The Flight of the Silver Turtle - Softcover

John Fardell is the author of three children's novels, including The Seven Professors of the Far North and The Secret of the Black Moon Moth. He also works as a freelance cartoonist, illustrator, designer and puppeteer. A regular contributor to Viz (he is the creator of The Modern Parents and The Critics amongst others), his work has appeared in the Independent, the Evening Standard, the New Statesman, the Glasgow Herald and the List. He is married with two boys and lives in Edinburgh.

Grade 4-6–Having survived the machinations of an evil genius in The 7 Professors of the Far North (Putnam, 2005), the same kids and their professorial guardians are involved in a new adventure. This time, they have joined up with a novice airplane enthusiast, Amy McAirdrie. When Professors Sharpe and Ampersand and their wards Ben, Zara, Sam, and Marcia decide to help her with the plane's construction, they have no idea that their every move is being watched. A shadowy organization known as Noctarma is eyeing the airplane very closely. When a series of misunderstandings leads to the kids running, or rather flying, for their lives, they find themselves in a race to discover the secret of antigravity before the bad guys do. Escaping from Noctarma's clutches repeatedly, the plucky children must elude capture and figure out whom to trust before it's too late. The writing is consistently upbeat and energetic even if it bogs down a little during the airplane passages. Fans of Fardell's previous book will enjoy following the characters and their wacky high-speed adventures. New readers, on the other hand, will have a difficult time sorting out the large cast of characters and their backgrounds.–Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library
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