Reviews

The Atomic Weight of Secrets or The Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black
The Young Inventors Guild: Book One
By Eden Unger Bowditch
Publisher: Bancroft Press
Publication Date: 03/15/2011
ISBN: 9781610880022

A book about science is a welcome novelty at a time when most juvenile fiction centers around magic and witchcraft. The Atomic Weight of Secrets is the first in a trilogy about five brilliant scientists, who just happen to be kids.

They are taken from their equally brilliant parents and brought to a farm in America by the men in black. These men in black are bizarrely attired in black bunny ears, or tutus, or furry coats and flippers, as though they went shopping at Value Village and grabbed all the black clothing and costumes to randomly mix and match for their wardrobes.

The children do not know why they have been taken by these weirdly dressed men. They don’t know why they haven’t heard from their parents. Nor do they know if their parents are safe or in danger.

Faced with all these uncertainties, the children decide they must escape the men in black, and rescue their parents. In order to do so, they will need to combine their brilliant minds and invent something spectacular.

The story is well-told and entertaining, with a great deal of mystery and suspense cut with anticipation of the next appearance of the men in black and their fantastic costumes.

As the first book in the Young Inventor’s Guild series, this book resolves little. The few things that do get accomplished by the children seem to be done for them rather than by them in the end. However, the mystery and storyline are strong enough to create a good deal of anticipation for the second book in the series, in hopes there are more answers to be found there.