The Genius Files Roundup

A secret organization to identify kid geniuses is the premise on which Coke and Pepsi are given ciphers and chased to the death by evil masterminds.

Their family cross-country drive in an RV - stopping in little-known towns with little-known claims to fame - provides the basis for random facts of all sorts.

An entertaining read. As far I could tell, a couple of the books had extra ciphers directed at the reader, and I thought those were especially fun.

• Mission Impossible (#1) ★★★½
• Never Say Genius (#2) ★★★
• You Only Die Twice (#3) ★★★
• From Texas with Love (#4) ★★½
• License to Thrill (#5) ★★½

License to Thrill (The Genius Files #5) by Dan Gutman

★★½

First of all, don't let my low rating scare you away. I know I am not the target audience for this book, which is probably middle-elementary school boys. Sebastien, currently in 3rd grade, enjoyed this series quite a bit, and I credit these books with helping to get him interested in longer chapter books.

That said, it's just too silly and outrageous for my liking! In this book, we deviate a bit from the familiar cross-country trip during which Coke and Pep fend off Dr. Warsaw and his henchmen. Instead, the first few chapters pick up where the last book left off - with Coke and Pep being abducted by aliens! At least it provided some context for the author to impart a bunch of science and space-related facts.

The book does give us a conclusion, though maybe I'd stop short of calling it satisfying.