The Secret of Rover

To start off, this is a high quality book. The plot is gripping, the characters are well developed, and it is otherwise an awesome book. I got this book for my teenage daughter, but after rave reviews from her decided to read it myself. As an adult, I appreciate quality books like this. I do not like the fact that my my kids have been reading and obsessing about books such as the Twilights. If you are looking for an alternative to Twilight for your children, choose The Secret of Rover and you will not be disappointed.

This book is on my daughters summer reading list. She thought is sounded interesting so she chose it. It was interesting. It had a little too many unneeded sentence fragments that were over her head and would be in an adult novel. She only became really interested in the book about half way through. She did like it in the end. If your child is interested in this book, go for it. Just be prepared to help them understand certain parts.

This book held my attention from the beginning to the happy ending. I enjoyed the adventure and will recommend this book to others.

It was okToo much drama it think and not enough action more for kids twelve - thirteen. It was good though

Because the book had many parts that were so exciting and it makes you want to read more, more and more!!!!!!

Great read for a 5-7th grader or a read together for family

For full synopsis see above.Katie and David are twins and live with their parents in a suburb of Washington, D.C. After struggling for many years financially their parents (and uncle) invent Rover for the U.S. government and since then things have been much better. Their parents are now off to Katkajan to adopt a baby girl while Katie and David stay behind with the newly hired nanny. However, it turns out that Katkajan is in a political mess, the nanny is not a nanny and the parents and baby sister have been kidnapped. Katie and David realize only their reclusive uncle can help them and so they venture on their own to Vermont to find him.This in an exiting adventure though the pacing is a little slow. It's a page turner nonetheless. Katie and David, like most siblings argue and bicker a lot but they work well together. Bouncing ideas off each other or just winging it they manage to reach their uncle on a remote mountain in Vermont. Uncle Alex is a great character. (I'd love to hear his story, but I digress). But can he help them? Can they save their parents and bring them and their new baby sister home? And what is Rover anyway? You'll have to read this book to find the answers.Recommended for readers who enjoyed Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series), Mission Unstoppable (Genius Files series), or who enjoy adventure and mysteries with a little sci-fi thrown in grades 5 (4th grade strong readers) and up. Read as an ebook arc courtesy of Amulet Books via Netgalley. The Secret of Rover will be published March 1, 2011.

How do you think that you would react if your parents were kidnapped while abroad by foreign terrorists and the terrorists' friends in the United States were after you? Lisa and David Bowden, twelve-year-old twins, live in Washington, DC, with their parents Alan and Sandra. They used to be poor, but the Bowdens, along with Sandra's brother Uncle Alex, invented a top-secret device known as Rover and sold it to the United States government, so now they live comfortably in a new house, and Mr. and Mrs. Bowden have decided to go to Katkajan to adopt an orphan baby named Theo. The adoption agency even finds a Katkajanian nanny named Trixie to watch Lisa and David while their parents are out of the country and then to help with the baby after they return. However, once in Katkajan, their parents are kidnapped by Katkajanian rebels trying to overthrow the government, and it turns out that Trixie, who has a lot of friends in the United States, is in on the plot. Lisa and David are taken to their old house and tied up but manage to escape. Now what? They decide that their best option is to find their Uncle Alex. They have never met him, but they know that he lives like a hermit in the mountains near Melville, VT, so they become stowaways aboard a grocery truck heading north to Yonkers, NY. However, at a rest stop they find that some of Trixie's friends are also out on the road looking for them. Stowing away on another truck to Vermont, they find a taxi driver who takes them from Hawthorne to Melville. Will they make it to their uncle's place? Is there anything that Uncle Alex can do to help them? And what will happen to their parents? Author Rachel Wildavsky is a former journalist who has written for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. The Secret of Rover is a fairly long book (343 pages), but I had trouble putting it down and finished it in just a few days. I must admit that it is one of the most exciting, suspenseful thrillers for young people that I have read in a long time. And there is almost nothing objectionable in it. Lisa and David do steal a few things along the way to their uncle's house, mostly food for survival, but they have been brought up to know that stealing is wrong and they talk about somehow repaying what they have taken. There is some bickering between the siblings, but they learn to work together and also grow in their appreciation for one another. A strong sense of family pervades the plot. Pre-teens and teenagers who like spy stories with a lot of intrigue and action will enjoy this book.