Mac Undercover (Mac B., Kid Spy #1)

Praise for Mac Undercover (Mac B., Kid Spy #1): A New York Times bestseller!An Amazon Best Book of 2018* "Barnett and Lowery bring the funny to the serious art of espionage in a perfect interplay of text and illustration...Barnett interweaves tidbits of global history fit for trivia lovers, while Lowery's comic-style images play a key role in the humor...Told with a sense of nostalgia for 1980s history and pop culture, the silliness and originality of this book will hook young readers." -- School Library Journal, starred review"Barnett takes his readers on a fun-filled ride...Barnett's tone throughout the story is humorous, lighthearted, and a little glib, and the over-the-top story is sure to appeal to many readers...an enjoyable romp that will leave readers salivating for the sequel." -- Kirkus Reviews"[Barnett's] riotous series debut as an adult recalling a 1980s childhood caper...goofy, two-color pictures by Lowery (the Doodle Adventure series) ramp up the silliness of this adventure...which should snare even the most hesitant readers." --Publishers Weekly"Barnett's knack for both quirky situational humor and heartfelt sentiment work in tandem to create a balanced-while still outrageous-early-chapter-book caper. Lowery's frequent cartoony black, yellow, and blue spot illustrations are integral to the narrative, providing clues to eagle-eyed readers and enhancing the humor." --The Horn Book"Barnett's series falls squarely in line with works from Jon Scieszka's and Dav Pilkey's oeuvres, offering kids another solid choice for what to read next." -- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books"Funny as a crumpet. (But truly, secretly a hundred times smarter.)"--Jon Scieszka, author of Caldecott Honor The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and the New York Timesbestselling series Frank Einstein."With a perfectly absurd premise, dialogue that demands outlandish accents, and a plot that interweaves global history and complete silliness, Barnett royally nails it." --Abby Hanlon, author of the Dory Fantasmagory series.Praise for The Impossible Crime (Mac B., Kid Spy #2): : An instant New York Times bestseller!"Barnett opens his casebook again-this time to solve a classic locked-room mystery...Almost every page contains Lowery's illustrations, loosely drawn and garishly colored in green and orange, which give the whole affair a zany feel that is much enhanced by the narrative with its running gags. Kudos to a pint-size Poirot, pre-Mustache!" - Booklist"Barnett's signature dry wit and snappy back-and-forths, particularly between the ingenuously sincere Mac and the standoffish Queen, keep the story steadily moving forward; a convoluted historical account of Colonel Blood's attempted robbery...Lowery's cartoony spot art, in black, green, and orange, provides additional historical and cultural information and frequently supports the narrative." - Horn Book"Barnett and Lowery team up again in this second outing of international espionage mystery with royal overtones... this is a nifty mystery for young readers and a worthy sequel to the first." - Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Top Secret Smackdown (Mac B., Kid Spy #3): "Exciting action sneakily infused with points about the relationship between reality and story, delivered by a narrator who can claim with literal truth that he saved the day "on porpoise." -- Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Mac Barnett: [Mac Barnett is] a great young writer of books for young people. If you haven't read his work, run somewhere and do that. Books for young people have a rich and I daresay limitless future--knock anyone who says otherwise into a ditch--and Mac has a central place within that limitless future. Don't bet against him or anyone like him." --Dave Eggers"[In Barnett's books] there is no magic solution to any problem: The characters stumble through their dilemmas just as every one of us does. The world is a difficult yet good place, and there is no need for the typical rose-colored lenses that other children's books put on situations in order to fend off the bad stuff." --Yiyun Li"He is a believer that picture books can have Swiftian absurdity and untidy endings, and that 'life is absurd, and kids know that.'"-- The San Francisco Chronicle