Georges lives in a world of small dots just like the painting that hangs over his couch … the one painted by Sir Ott…. Georges Seurat to be exact. If his mother stands back and looks at the picture, the small dots disappear and she is reminded to look at the big picture as each day goes by.
But Georges is battling the dots these days. He and his family have just moved into an apartment, at least until his father starts to get some big clients, and his mother has started working double shifts at the hospital to help make ends meet.
At school Georges is facing some first-rate bullying at the hands of Dallas and Carter and has the even more difficult challenge of watching his former best friend, Jason, eat lunch with the team of taunters.
One good thing has come into his life and that’s a boy named Safer who lives upstairs in the apartment building and who has inducted Georges into The Spy Club. Safer clandestinely keeps an eye on the comings and goings of the residents of the apartments and has a suspicion that one of them, a Mr. X, may be a serial killer.
Safer enlists Georges in his espionage games. What begins as curious adventure tinged with excitement slowly spirals into potential criminal activity. Georges gets more and more confused about his own role in the game as things start to tighten around him.
If you step back and look at the entire picture of this book, you will see the little dots of humor, the refreshing strategy Georges employs against the bullies, the woven chain of notes between mother and son, and the carefully placed hints and clues that blend together to form an intricate story. Surgically designed and meticulously crafted this book quietly and steadily works all the pieces into position to spring its unexpected hidden layers.
For readers who love to solve puzzles and enjoy thinking their way through a story this will be a huge hit. Intriguing. Compelling. Well- crafted.. All the small dots subtly link together to form a brilliantly evolving story that gleams with the final turn of the page. 180 pages Ages 9-13
Recommended by Barb
ALSC Tween Recommended Reads https://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/Tween13_RecReadsList.pdf