An inventive format and a cast of memorable characters distinguish Grunwell's debut novel, set in the rife-with-drama milieu of a seventh-grade classroom. Faint echoes of John Hughes's classic teen film The Breakfast Club
can be heard as a group of disparate students find themselves participating (most of them not by choice) in a supposedly elective science class, referred to as the Mad Science club. As they embark on a science fair project to prove if ESP exists, the various members—among them recent Russian immigrant Marina, deep-thinking-jock Brandon, and hardworking Claire and her brain-damaged twin Kathleen—discover plenty about how their own minds work and how they relate to other people. Grunwell's framework, of a project report with sections written by different students, gives each Mad Scientist a distinct voice, allowing readers the opportunity to deduce much more than what's on the page. Though it may take readers a few passages to see what the author is doing, they will quickly be caught up in the rhythms of the scientific method as Grunwell applies it here. The story flies by, leaving readers eager for more. Ages 10-14. (Apr.)
