Spy School Project X, marks the spot on go-to, mglit

Mglit is an abbreviation for middle-grade fiction. However, there are many instances where an mglit book can also be perfect for upper-elementary school readers. It’s kind of like the colloquial definition of art, it varies and can depend on who is viewing it. By any definition, Spy School is one of the go-to, must-read book series for the aforementioned groups. Spy School Project X is the tenth book in that series and, while it does show signs of maturity, it doesn’t show signs of decreasing quality or tired characters.

Ben Ripley is a teen who, along with his friends, has saved the world or prevented a large-scale terrorist attack numerous times. As there were nine books prior to Project X, you could assume that there were nine such acts, but each book has many action sequences that lead up to each climax. They are all in a spy-in-training program that they call ‘spy school’. Some have deep roots in the espionage community, while a couple are still learning the ropes, and one or two who are there by virtue of friendship or accident.

The heel throughout the Spy School books is Murray Hill. For us, he plays out like a more intelligent, yet still very annoying, version of Bling Bling Boy from Johnny Test. Hill used to be a spy in training like the other youth, but went over to the bad side and has been plotting against Ripley throughout the books. At the end of Spy School at Sea, the ninth book, Hill was successfully captured and sent to prison. The final page of that book has Hill sending out a communiqué to the evil community to launch Project X.

Spy School Project X opens up with an email from the principal summoning Ben to the office for something significant, dangerous, and secretive. Unfortunately, he gets delayed in the gym while taking an exam. It’s a combat exam and while it should be simple for him given his real-world experience, his opponent disables him despite his best efforts. This leads to him trying to brown-nose for a higher grade when the principal storms into the gym. Ben assumes that he’s angry because he’s tardy for the meeting. However, the principal shows him a note that was supposedly written by Ben, when, just at that moment, the principal’s office explodes and shakes the foundation of the school.

This leads to the thrust of the book that plays out in four or six arcs within the story. These are mainly action-centered pieces that have Ben & company avoiding assassination attempts, all the while trying to figure out how Hill could be wrangling Project X while being incarcerated. The timeline within Project X doesn’t take too long, the entire story takes place in just over a day. It’s because of this that the story has a breathless, Die Hard feeling that always leaves the readers wanting more. The action happens quickly, there are numerous turns and reveals of the characters that made the first nine books so entertaining.

Fans of the Spy School series will also note more realism in this book. I noticed it unconsciously about halfway through it. It’s not that the other books were slapstick in any manner, but their plots had more in common with Moonraker than Casino Royale. OK, maybe that’s a stretch, but Jaws certainly made that era of James Bond much more fiction oriented than Connery’s version, didn’t they?

Because the underlying plot of Spy School Project X depends on the fact that people online will believe anything, it’s much more probable that things in the book could occur. It’s not horrific by any means, all Hill does is say things online that implicate Ripley being a terrorist. He also posts a bounty on his life, which starts the events in the school gym. The witty banter, zippy action sequences and burgeoning (teen) relationships that have grown in the previous books all make progress in Project X.

At the end of the book, it all makes sense. It makes further sense when you read the author’s notes at the very end. Gibbs acknowledges things that you thought were happening, and just like the finale of other Spy School books, it has a communiqué from one of the key characters to set up the next installment. If you’ve read previous Spy School books you’ll love this. If you haven’t read any of them you’ll still enjoy it and be curious enough to read them all. This is a series that every elementary and middle school needs to have in their stacks.

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