Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/01/2010 Thrill seekers and Gutman fans alike will welcome the opening installment of the Genius Files series, which follows twin 12-year-olds Coke and Pepsi McDonald on their cross-county vacation. The precocious brother and sister uncover a secret government plot to use “YAGs,” or Young American Geniuses, to solve the complex problems of the nation, and find that they are on the list. Suddenly, their 3,000-mile road trip becomes a lot more exciting. The McDonalds’ trek across the U.S. includes stops at the Donner Party Memorial, a museum of PEZ memorabilia, and the world’s largest ball of twine, all while being pursued by dangerous “dudes with bowler hats.” Although the interjection of factual information from their college-professor father is a bit forced at times, Gutman’s novel offers a quirky look at Americana that will engage curious minds. Frequent sidebars direct readers to Google Maps to track the twins’ journey, and occasional photos of the attractions add appeal. Those looking for a fun and suspenseful read similar to those from Pseudonymous Bosch will not be disappointed. - Copyright 2010 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 03/01/2011 Gr 5–8—On an ordinary day, Coke, 12, and his twin sister, Pepsi, are chased along a cliff path by a man wearing a bowler hat and driving a golf cart. This is only the first of a series of events in which people, including their health teacher, try to kill them. Eventually they learn that after 9/11, a man who survived the attack at the Pentagon developed a plan, outlined in what came to be called The Genius Files project, to identify children who will solve the world's problems. Based on their standardized test scores, Coke and Pepsi are chosen to be in the first Young American Geniuses group. But before the two can begin to fully grasp this fact, they are whisked away on a cross-country road trip with their parents, stopping off at many wacky tourist traps. Along the way they find ciphers giving them clues to potential attempts on America that they need to try to stop. While this is a fun and mostly funny adventure, it has many plot holes and suffers from poor character development. The Genius Files is only marginally explained and the ending peters out with an attempt at a cliff-hanger. Gutman sprinkles the book with interesting photos and instructions for following the children on their journey, making it a great road-trip novel about offbeat side excursions, but the mystery aspect doesn't quite fit.—Necia Blundy, Marlborough Public Library, MA - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 04/01/2011 While a cross-country trip with their brainiac dad and even quirkier mom is not quite what twins Coke (a boy) and Pepsi (a girl) had in mind for their summer vacation, a moving RV starts to look like a good idea when the pair realizes that the black-clad men suddenly roaming their hometown are actually there to kill them. Unfortunately, a three-thousand-mile road trip isn’t about to stop the murderous villains, and Coke and Pepsi soon find themselves enmeshed in a government-sanctioned conspiracy that’s replete with secret codes, poison-tipped darts, and a conniving evil genius. The plot certainly has a few gaping holes (the bad guy’s motivation is a bit unclear), but the appeal here lies in the oddball humor, particularly in the twins’ journey through the more eccentric aspects of Americana as they visit a host of kitschy tourist stops. This first installment of a proposed series matches some of Gutman’s other popular works (the Baseball Adventure series and My Weird School series) in both tone and kid appeal, and he injects a fantastical tale with a bit of authenticity as the cross-country trip is peppered with real locations and pictures, such as the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia and Battle Mountain’s Annual Armpit Festival. There is a fair amount of self-referential humor as Gutman mocks the more conventional tropes of adventure tales and even instructs the readers to look up the places and facts he cites to check for accuracy. The story lags at times under the weight of all this wackiness, but readers will find plenty to like here, especially as they begin to consider the possibilities of summer road trips-so be sure to have your road atlases and trip guides on hand. KQG - Copyright 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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