NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society (NERDS, #1)

Combining all the excitement of international espionage and all the awkwardness of elementary school, NERDS , featuring a group of unpopular students who run a spy network from inside their school, hits the mark. With the help of cutting-edge science, their nerdy qualities are enhanced and transformed into incredible abilities! They battle the Hyena, a former junior beauty pageant contestant turned assassin, and an array of James Bondstyle villains, each with an evil plan more diabolical and more ridiculous than the last.

NERDS combines all the excitement of international espionage with all the awkwardness of elementary school, and the results are hilarious. A group of unpopular fifth graders run a spy network from inside their school. With the help of cutting-edge science, they transform their nerdy qualities into incredible abilities! Their enemies? An array of James Bond–style villains, each with an evil plan more diabolical and more ridiculous than the last. Publishers Weekly raved: “Buckley has a flair for exaggerated humor.” School Library Journal said: “Funny, clever, and thoroughly entertaining.”

Publishers Weekly

Launching a new series, Buckley (the Sisters Grimm books) offers a charming and funny tale of underdogs saving the day. Jackson Jones, a cool kid at Nathan Hale Elementary School, suddenly finds himself ostracized when he's saddled with 14 pounds of highly magnetic orthodonture (“Friends turned their backs when he walked by. Teachers cowered in the lounge, hoping to avoid eye contact”). With no social activities to occupy his time, he starts snooping around school and uncovers its secret: it's the undercover hideout of NERDS, a secret group of underage spies. Even more shocking, the NERDS are the biggest outcasts in the entire school, their allergies and eccentricities turned into assets. Though the spy kids concept is a familiar one in print, TV and film, Buckley has a flair for exaggerated humor, throws in some nice touches (including a peevish security system that interacts with readers) and wisely presents the NERDS through the eyes of Jackson, who spends much of the book denying his own social ostracism. Even the more broadly drawn archetypes are fleshed out, making this a perfectly fun and clever read. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

In this new middle grade series from bestselling author Michael Buckley, international espionage and the awkwardness of junior high combine in a hilarious new supergroup: the N.E.R.D.S. In the first book in the projected five-book series, five unpopular students run a spy network from inside their elementary school. Each of the kids is a complete social misfit with his or her own unique nerdy burden to bear. With the help of cutting-edge science, the kids afflictions are enhanced and become incredible abilities. Working as a team, they are the latest members of the National Espionage, Rescue and Defense Society, or N.E.R.D.S., which battles an array of James Bond-style villains each with an evil plan more diabolical than the last. Dr. Jigsaw, the villain in Book One, wants to use a giant tractor beam to pull all the continents back together. Whats a few million lives versus a completed puzzle? A group of unpopular students are part of a spy network inside their school. With the help of cutting-edge science, their nerdy qualities are enhanced and transformed into incredible abilities. They battle the Hyena, a former junior beauty pageant contestant turned assassin, and an array of James Bondstyle villains, each with an evil plan more diabolical and more ridiculous than the last. While running a spy network from their elementary school, five unpopular misfits combine their enhanced abilities and use cutting-edge gadgetry to fight evil around the world While running a spy network from their elementary school, five unpopular misfits combine their talents and use cutting-edge gadgetry to fight evil around the world.