H. I. Larry

In Zac Power's latest adventure, he must save his nerdy brother, rescue a secret formula, escape from a volcano - and all in time to get home and walk the dog.

Starting with his jump out of an airplane in the first chapter, twelve-year-old Zac's adventures are pure action. The story reads like the script of a adventure/thriller movie - Zac is hardly still for a moment, dashing from adventure to adventure. One minute he's escaping through the jungle, the next he's swimming through a show more barracuda-infested pool. There's no time for character development, description, or even much plot development, but that's not the point of the story. It's all about action!

These won't appeal to kids who like realistic fiction or the more family and school oriented stories that are usual for beginning chapter books, but reluctant readers, especially those who like action-packed movies and cartoons, will really enjoy this series. I'm happy to discover another good series for reluctant readers.

Oh, I almost forgot the illustrations - they're all pretty small, mainly pictures of gadgets, or highlighted parts of the story - clocks, exclamations, etc. They give the story a nice spy feel.

Verdict: Light, but fun!

ISBN: 978-0312346591; Published October 2008 by Feiwel and Friends; Borrowed from the library show less

(On behalf of my 9 year old : humouress)

The story is about a young boy who goes on missions to save this world. He works for a spy group called GIB. His mum and dad and brother are spies as well.

Zac has to go up in a rocket that his brother has invented. He has to save this space satellite that GIB has made and when he goes up in the rocket, he finds out that the bad group have covered up the cameras and have launched a robot and if anyone tries to take off the covers the robot will shoot show more lasers at them.

It was a fun book to read and interesting to see what Zac's missions are. I love the missions that he goes on and all the gadgets he uses. It looks really fun but it's really very dangerous. I would love to be Zac Power and to be a spy. Zac Power is awesome! show less

Jake's Review: This book is really cool because Zac gets to play with all these wicked gadgets. There is also tons of action and the book isn't really long so I can read it in one night. My favorite character is Zac because I already told you he gets to play with wicked gadgets and my least favorite character is B.I.G, but I won't tell you why because that would ruin the book for you. My friends would definitely like to read this because it is really short and well they aren't the biggest show more fans of books, so short books are good for them. Plus I think they would like the gadgets and the action. Mom says its like James Bond without the gratuitous violence and scantily clad girls. I cannot wait to read the next Zac Power book. I would recommend that my school get the whole series.
Jake's Rating: 9/10 show less

(On behalf of my 9 year old: humouress)

It was a nice book.

Low down car, which can drive underneath other cars.

Zac Power : Zac Cracks Down is an amazing book. It's about Zac and he has to go to this haunted house thing and he sees a figure in it and it's actually another spy but from the opposite and when Zac goes in he has to try to do something in the haunted house to save everyone and he gets out just in time and he runs to safety.

I like this book but it just didn't give enough show more information. But, yeah, I sort of like it. show less