  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 05/01/2008 Gr 4-8-Haddix's latest science fiction series starts off with a bang in this nail-biter. A plane arrives at an airline gate unnoticed by radar and most personnel. There are no flight attendants, no pilot, in fact no adults at all, but there are 36 passengers-each seat is inhabited by an infant. Thirteen years later in Ohio, teenage adoptees Jonah and his friend Chip begin receiving ominous messages declaring that they are among "the missing" and that someone is coming to find them. Frightened yet intrigued, the boys begin a search for their real identities with the help of Jonah's younger sister. Their search leads them to a discovery that strains credulity and leads them into danger greater than they ever imagined possible. The story is driven by an exciting plot rather than extensive character development, and the teens act independently of the adults, who appear as "bad guys" or are basically useless. If used in a classroom, the revelation of the babies' identities can be used to kick off a history lesson or two. This book's exciting premise and cliff-hanger ending will leave readers on the edge of their seats and begging for more.-Heather M. Campbell, Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. - Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Bulletin for the Center... - 05/01/2008 While thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, both he and his best friend, Chip, are shocked to learn that the same is true of Chip when both boys receive anonymous letters alluding to a common past and imminent danger. In fact, the two boys eventually discover that they share a highly unusual background: as infants, they were two of thirty-six babies found on an otherwise deserted plane that appeared out of nowhere. Armed with a few hints about their infancy, Chip and Jonah now seek all the answers about who the babies were, why they are now all being hunted, and which of the two groups chasing them (if either) are the good guys. Haddix admirably balances the exposition necessary to shape the first novel of a series while still providing enough life-threatening situations, governmental intrigue, and futuristic weaponry to make this an action-packed stand-alone novel. Readers will surely return for future installments, both to learn who each of the babies were (all of the infants are famous individuals pulled from the past, such as the Lindbergh baby or Anastasia Romanov), and to follow the protagonists’ time- traveling adventures as they try to right various time/space warps and arrange it so that all of the teens can stay in their present-day lives. Science fiction and adventure fans will find much to enjoy in this flashy, suspenseful volume, and they will cheer the fact that the intrepid protagonists, in spite of their youth, seem well equipped to take on potential evil at every turn. AS - Copyright 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Loading...
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