The Deadly 7 - Softcover

Garth Jennings has directed many music videos and commercials as one third of the production company Hammer and Tongs. His work includes videos for the bands Blur, Radiohead, Beck, Fatboy Slim, and Vampire Weekend. He is the director of two feature films: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) and Son of Rambow (2007) for which he also wrote the screenplay. The Deadly 7 is his first novel.

Gr 4–6—Delightful and inventive, this original story entertains at every turn. On the face of it, Nelson Green seems to be an average 11-year-old Londoner, but then his 16-year-old sister, Celeste, goes missing in Spain, and he worries that it happened because she gave him her lucky necklace. When his parents leave to help search for Celeste, Nelson is sent to stay with his eccentric Uncle Pogo, who, following a devastating accident, gave up on being a rugby player and now plies his trade as a most unusual plumber. The resourceful Pogo has made his own ingenious prosthetic leg that is outfitted with multiple gadgets including a fully functioning phone. Working at the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, he enlists Nelson's help to crawl into a tiny room to fix a plumbing issue. While fixing the pipe, Nelson loses his balance and falls backward onto a table covered in metal spikes. Little does he know, but when he fell on the table, he activated the seven copper test tubes hidden beneath the table and what was in the test tubes is now alive and growing. The contents bubble over, and some strange and horrible-looking creatures come to life. Luckily, the seven little monsters are of the helpful, friendly variety. They and Nelson embark on a wild and wacky adventure to get Celeste back. Hilarious, madcap action combined with rich language will keep readers rapidly turning pages. Pen-and-ink sketches supplement this highly imaginative book that is part mystery, part adventure, and total fun. VERDICT A great purchase for middle grade fiction collections in need of clever, laugh-out-loud fantasy/adventure.—Laura Fields Eason, Parker Bennett Curry Elementary School, Bowling Green, KY