Chasing the Falconers (On the Run)
Grade 4-7–In what CNN called the trial of the new millennium, Aiden and Meg Falconer's parents were convicted of treason and sentenced to life in jail. Respected criminologists with PhDs, they were asked by CIA Agent Frank Lindenauer to develop profiles that would help U.S. operatives identify terrorist cells throughout the world. He disappeared, and the FBI charged the Falconers with passing classified information to enemies. Their children were placed in a juvenile detention facility in Nebraska for their own safety. When the novel opens, they have been at Sunnydale Farm for four months. Aiden accidentally lights the place on fire and they escape. He remembers that nine years earlier he hid a picture of Lindenauer, known to him as Uncle Frank, in their summer house on Lake Champlain. If they can find him, perhaps they can prove their parents' innocence. With no plan and no money, they set off for Vermont. The police are in hot pursuit, but Aiden and Meg, along with another escapee, Miguel, elude them in one close call after another. At the book's abrupt and unresolved ending, the kids make it to their destination, where Miguel, mistaken for Aiden, is shot by a mysterious intruder. Short on character development and at times melodramatic and straining credulity in the children's ability to elude authorities, this is a fast-paced, action-packed adventure that kids will read in one sitting. Appropriate for reluctant readers and those addicted to television action shows, it is the first in a projected six-title series.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, MECopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.