A delightful spy tale! Soon to be a major motion picture(?) ( )

Narrated in two voices, this very readable novel (a 3.8 reading level) won't ever win any awards, but it's the kind of story that third and fourth graders would get wrapped up in. What kid wouldn't be surprised by a Nanny bedecked in a motorcycle jacket and sunglasses? And while young readers are taken with the kid narrators and unusual nanny, they learn a bunch of stuff. I got a kick out of the description of the playground that looked like an intestine --then followed by stats on the length of human intestines. And when the nanny refers to protein as brain food --it's stray bits like this that add interest.

The crux of the story is that someone wants to build a factory where the park is, and when ten-year old Allison asks "Who's going to save the park?" Nanny answers: "We are." Nanny, throughout the book, is a secret agent, and yet is not given her due by the adult males in the book. (Have kids do a close reading of p. 40). The plot is a bit circuitous; it's more of a character-driven novel, but it all comes together in the end. ( )