N.e.r.d.s

It's a well-known trope that nerds, and the kids that are picked on today, will become the leaders of tomorrow. N.E.R.D.S. takes that trope and runs with it. Instead of becoming leaders tomorrow, the N.E.R.D.S., or National Espionage Rescue and Defense Society, are a rag-tag group of eleven year old super-spies. Believing that kids make the ultimate spies because they are small and go unnoticed by adults, the team of five kids each has the thing that has been their "weakness" enhanced into a superpower. For example, Ruby (codename: Pufferfish) Peet can detect danger when her allergies cause her to swell up. The team has just found out they have a new leader, a James-Bond type spy who now poses as their school janitor. They're not thrilled with this, but they're even less thrilled with their new member, former school golden boy and bully, Jackson Jones, who after getting braces stumbled onto their secret spy ring. Will the team pull together to defeat the evil crime boss and his newest assassin? N.E.R.D.S. is the first book in the N.E.R.D.S. series, and it will dazzle middle-grade readers. With laugh-out-loud humor, cool gadgetry like nanobots, and sci-fi enhanced abilities, this team of super-heroes will prove to readers that nerds really are the rulers of the world. Kids will find a lot of identify with this multi-cultural cast of misfits. Clever comic book illustrations also add a good deal of fun to this book, even as it deals with serious issues like bullying.