The Smartest Kid in the Universe

"For centuries, humans have consumed information through their eyes and our ears," said Dr. Backbridge. "Here is my prediction. In the not-too-distant future, we are going to ingest information. You won't need to read a book or attend lectures. The chemicals in these pills will do your learning for you."

12 year old Jake's middle school is about to be shut down. Jake and his friends know their school's worth saving-if they could only figure out how! When Jake spies a bowl of jellybeans at the hotel where his mom works, he eats them. But uh-oh-those weren't just jellybeans, one of the scientists at his mom's conference is in the process of developing the first ingestible information pills. And THAT'S what Jake ate.

Before long, Jake is the smartest kid in the universe. But the pills haven't been tested yet. And when word gets out about this new genius, people want him. The government. The mega corporations. Not all of them are good people! Can Jake navigate all the ins and outs of his newfound geniusdom (not to mention the ins and outs of middle school!) AND use his smarts to figure out how to save his school? (Hint-it will take someone smart enough to decipher an almost forgotten pirate legend!) It turns out, sometimes even the smartest kid has a lot to learn!

Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• Fast-paced, action-filled adventure.
• A mystery that includes riddles and problems to solve.
• Lots of little facts and nuggets of knowledge.
• Some basic intro to Spanish that’s important to the plot.
• A fun story that seamlessly incorporates learning.

Many thanks to Random House Books for Young Readers and Rockstar Book Tours for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review and for inclusion on this blog tour.

I’m a sucker for humor reads lately, so when I saw this book, I thought it’d make a nice break from the heavier books I normally read!

The Smartest Kid in the Universe is a great book for younger middle grade readers, combining adventure, humor, non-stop action, and a ton of really interesting nuggets of info that’ll have you turning to your neighbor and saying, “Hey, did you know …”

This book was for a different audience, I think, and I can see this being a big hit for mid-grade readers who love adventures (which isn’t exactly my niche). This was a fun read, and I enjoyed it (my favorite parts are definitely all the things I learned along the way), but the plot felt a bit forgotten or meandering in places and relied too much on suspension of disbelief in weird ways. I’ll definitely be recommending this one for younger kids looking for a quick, fun read (plus, it has the added bonus of actually *gasp* making learning fun!)

Kids will easily be sucked into this adventure, which has our everyday middle schoolers hunting for treasure.

There’s nothing particularly remarkable about our trio of heroes, except maybe that they’re smart. Two of them, at least, have worked hard for that designation. And Jake? Well, Jake is an exception, and maybe there’s a little something special about him, through no fault of his own. For the most part, though, I really enjoyed that these were just ordinary kids in an extraordinary situation.

The part about this book that I thought was the most fun was the sense of extraordinary adventure in an everyday setting, really playing up the fact that anyone can stumble into an adventure and undertake a quest. I think the “everyman” feel of the plot, along with Jake’s character in general, will appeal to a lot of kids, who could easily see themselves in a somewhat similar situation.

Jake is so relatable as a character that I think many kids will easily be able to see themselves in him.

Heck, I’ve left kid-dom waaaay behind, and I still feel Jake’s personality deep in my soul. He doesn’t like studying. He’s not a huge fan of learning. In fact, putting effort into anything is hard, and he’d just rather not, thanks. Which, if I’m honest, is pretty much a mood for 2020.

Jake isn’t particularly special in any sort of way, and in a lot of ways, he just wants to skate through life and not be bothered with the whole working hard and studying thing. On its surface, it may seem like it sends a bad message, but this is far from the case! First of all, a lot of Jake’s sentiments are really common ones for people to have. Second, he has a character arc! So obviously, he does, in fact, learn things along the way, despite his best efforts.

Despite (or maybe because) of his more unbecoming traits, Jake has a really satisfying character arc.

What could be better than an incurably lazy person who hates learning actually … you know, finding out that they can, in fact, study and get better at things when they do that? It’s just so *chef’s kiss*. I think Jake’s arc is particularly powerful because of how much of an “everyman” character he is. Because it’s so easy for a reader to see themselves in Jake, it’s just as easy for them to make the leap that, oh, okay, maybe if I apply myself, too, I could also learn and get better at things!

Any reader, no matter what age, is guaranteed to learn a lot from this book … and have fun doing it, too!

I love books that really make me think or teach me something, and there are so many snippets of wisdom packed into this book. Some of them I knew, but I also learned a lot! It’s mostly in a fun way in the middle of some treasure-hunting action, which is always fun. I very much enjoyed Jake’s little asides, and I’d definitely recommend this book for anyone who’s a fan of random trivia and loves gathering interesting facts.

About Chris Grabenstein

CHRIS GRABENSTEIN is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY, MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY OLYMPICS, THE ISLAND OF DR. LIBRIS, WELCOME TO WONDERLAND: HOME SWEET MOTEL and many other books, as well as the coauthor of numerous fun and funny page-turners with James Patterson, including I FUNNY, HOUSE OF ROBOTS, TREASURE HUNTERS, and JACKY HA-HA. Chris lives in New York City with his wife, J.J., two cats, and a dog named Fred. You can visit Chris at ChrisGrabenstein.com.

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3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE SMARTEST KID IN THE UNIVERSE, US Only.

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