Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Alex Rider has a tumultuous life at best.  An orphan at an early age Alex was taken in by his uncle, Ian Rider.  Unknown to Alex, Ian Rider was a spy for the British intelligence agency MI6.  Ian had trained Alex in martial arts, taught hims 3 different languages, and prepared him to become a spy without Alex knowing.  Tragedy strikes again when Alex is informed that his uncle has died in a traffic accident.  Having an uneasy feeling, Alex decides to investigate and discovers that Ian was killed in his car but not in a collision, the car was riddled with bullets.  After narrowly escaping a crushing incident at the auto wreckers lot, Alex is invited to his uncle’s job at the bank (or so Alex thought).  The bank was not a bank at all but a cover for MI6 and Alex was their newest recruit.

In order to infiltrate billionaire, Harod Sayles, secret operation Alex must go undercover as a British school boy (not that much of a stretch).  Sayle, a computer entrepreneur, is gifting a free ‘Stormbreaker’ computer to every school in England.  MI6 has discovered that Sayle has recently acquired a biological weapon and Alex is just the boy to find out why.

The first book in the Alex Rider series explodes with action.  The story is fast-paced and laced with enough cool gadgets to keep any middle school teen intrigued.  This book is highly recommended for teens that are fans of action/adventure and fast-paced series.

Elk’s Run by Joshua Hale Fialkov

Fialkov’s Elk’s Run is the fascinating story of a group of kids who have never known life outside of Elk’s Run.  When their fathers had left Vietnam they felt rejected by the society that they fought for, so they started a small town and controled everything going in and coming out of the town.  Things were great for awhile until people began questioning the authority of the town’s founder after an incident that left a child dead.  Around the same time the teens of the town decide to escape.  This leads to a confrontation from which Elk’s Run will never recover.

This graphic Novel is riveting and you won’t be able to put it down.  The artwork is good but the story is where the novel shines.  A must read for Graphic Novel fans.