For you puzzle lovers!

If you don't like deciphering codes, The Code Busters Club: The Secret of the Skeleton Key by Penny Warner will probably make you nuts.  But if you DO like codes, you might enjoy it!  Cody and her friends (Quinn, Luke, and M. E.) are seventh graders who love communicating in unusual ways: Morse code, Braille, American Sign Language, and all sorts of secret codes. One day Cody and Quinn see two odd people visiting their reclusive neighbor, who's drawing strange signs on his window; soon after, the house burns down and the neighbor is taken to a hospital.  Convinced that the two people have something to do with the fire, the Code Busters Club is determined to find out the connection.  Secret messages are used constantly, but don't worry - the codes (and answers) are given in the back of the book.  There were too many of these messages for me, but maybe it's the right amount for you!  If solving puzzles is your thing, be sure to check out http://www.codebustersclub.com/. 

Fun for your inner geek

Okay, this was just plain fun! The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis is what good graphic novels are all about - illustrations that depict ideas way better than words could. Julian Calendar is "outwardly: a nerd. But inwardly...an ultra nerd." He doesn't think he'll ever fit in at his new school, until he learns that bad girl Greta Hughes and sports jock Ben Garza are secret scientists, too. (I keep going back and looking at the drawing of their hideout - amazing, amazing details.) They form the Secret Science Alliance, but then Evil Dr. Stringer rips off their invention notebook. He plans to use some of the kids' ideas to steal something valuable from the local museum....can they stop him in time? With crazy inventions from the Kablovsky copter to the Stinkometer and lots of action, I bet you'll enjoy this one (and even get a painless dose of science on the side).