“Jackson Jones peered through his binoculars at the horizon.”

From Michael Buckley’s NERDS: National Espionage Rescue and Defense Society.

As an athlete and cool kid at his school, Jackson was mean and dismissive to any kid that wasn’t in the popular group like he was.  However, when he got braces and headgear, all Jackson’s popularity and friends vanished overnight.  Abandoned by all the other students at school, Jackson finds friendship from the five kids he used to pick on the most: Duncan, Heathcliff, Julio, Matilda, and Ruby.  One day, Jackson follows his new friends when they’re let out of class and he follows them into the locker.  Jackson then witnesses his new, nerdy friends displaying crazy abilities and using unbelievable technology; he runs from guards and trips into a dentist chair, waking up to a computer informing him that he’s received an amazing upgrade.  Unable to deny what Jackson witnessed, his friends inform him that they are members of the National Espionage Rescue and Defense Society, and now that he has received the upgrade, he’s part of NERDS now, too.  Jackson and his friends are soon tasked with a world-saving mission, but as they learn to work together to stop the evil, Jackson will have to learn to look beyond people’s appearances if he wants the mission to succeed.

Targeted for young readers, this espionage thriller is full of humor, thrills, and non-stop adventure.  Buckley creates a world where the unrealistic elements are easily made believable through the genuine characters and highly detailed descriptions.  NERDS is a solidly captivating series opener that will keep readers on the edge of their seat and is not to be missed.