For Fans of City Spies
The City Spies series (currently numbering four books) by James Ponti are great reads. Kids with troubled backgrounds team up to become MI6’s secret weapon: teen spies! They travel the world and solve mysteries and defeat the bad guys. Each book focuses on a different member of the team so you get more info on their lives before spy-hood and different perspectives in each volume. If you haven’t read the series, you’re in for a treat. If you have already sped through the four books and are looking for your next read, here are suggestions of books that City Spies fans would like. Enjoy!
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Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz (started in 2000)
Horowitz’s teen spy will definitely appeal to City Spies fans. And now some of the YA Alex Rider books are also available as graphic novels, which are equally great. After his uncle is killed, Alex takes over his role as a British spy. In the first adventure, Stormbreaker, Alex follows clues his uncle left about an extraordinary computer.
The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart (started in 2007)
I remember when I handed the first book in this series to my kid on a cross-county flight. They looked at the thick spine and pushed it aside in favor of unlimited in-flight screen time. Fair enough! But once they started, they couldn’t put down this engaging read about four extraordinary kids and the mysteries they must solve to save their mentor.
Spy School series by Stuart Gibbs (started in 2012)
Ben Ripley is recruited to a secret CIA academy of espionage. A school for spies is fully of sneaky people, and Ben isn’t sure who to trust, especially as he discovers that the school has a mole. This hilarious series never ceases to amuse my kid.
Three Times Lucky series by Sheila Turnage (started in 2012)
In this engaging series, Mo and BFF Dale want to solve a local crime (because, clearly, the local police are not up to the job). And while they are at it, maybe Mo can solve the mystery of her absent parents. Mo has loving guardians but can’t help searching for the mother who left her.
Greenglass House by Kate Milford (2014)
Milford’s prose is more elaborate and intricate than some of the others on this list, which suits her timeless and spooky setting. Milo’s parents run an inn in a remote setting. He’s looking forward to a quiet family Christmas when five unexpected guests appear and all are snowed in together. One guest is searching for the treasure of Michael “Doc Holystone” Whitcher, a famous smuggler and former owner of Greenglass House.
The Great Greene Heist and To Catch a Cheat by Varian Johnson (2014 and 2016)
Johnson’s The Parker Inheritance is well known (another great mystery), but I also love these earlier books about Jackson Greene and his crew. It’s like Ocean’s Eleven for the middle-school set. Jackson has promised to stop causing mischief but can’t keep himself from one more job when his nemesis runs against his friend for student council president.
Wells and Wong series by Robin Stevens (started in 2015)
This series, starting with Murder Is Bad Manners, feels like a cozy BBC mystery aged down for kids. There is murder and clues and kids sleuths who solve the crime before the pros. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are best friends at boarding school in the 1930s. In the first book, they find the dead body of their science teacher, but it disappears before any grown ups find it. They have to solve the crime and prove that there was one in the first place.