about the book
Having just completed his first tumultuous year at the CIA Academy of Espionage, the “Spy School,” twelve-year-old Ben Ripley is looking forward to a summer of leisure at home.
It is not to be.
Almost as soon as he gets home, a letter arrives telling him he is going to Spy Camp, a “wilderness education facility” for the spy in training. Before he even gets underway, Ben is made painfully aware that his old enemy, SPYDER, is still very much in operation. They also send him a letter, saying that he must lend them his expert skills, or else lose his life.
Fortunately, the fifteen-year-old super spy-in-training Erika, who happens to be Ben’s crush, is willing to team up with Ben to help take the SPYDER down!
about the author
Stuart Gibbs was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up in San Antonio, Texas. As a kid, he loved animals and spent as much time as he could at the zoo. In fifth grade he was amazed to learn that some kids weren’t as crazy about animals as he was.
Stuart also loved books and knew he was going to be a writer. He wrote lots of stories, and I’ll wager that many were about animals! Stuart went to the University of Pennsylvania, and while studying capybaras, the world’s largest rodent, he was offered a job to continue his studies at the zoo. He became one the the world’s foremost experts on capybaras …mainly because no one else was studying them!
Stuart went on to write several screenplays and developed television shows for Disney, Nickelodeon, ABC, and Fox. But with two children at home, he decided to go back to his first love and write a book for kids. Setting the plot in a zoo was, of course, his first choice for his first published book, Belly Up.
Since he saw his first spy movie at the age of seven, Stuart has been fascinated with James Bond. He instantly started to imagine what it would be like to be Bond’s son, Jimmy Bond (agent 006 ½). He even wrote a story called ”The Kid With The Golden Water Pistol.” So Stuart just knew that Ben Ripley’s adventures in Spy School would be cool and funny.
Stuart lives with his wife Suzanne and his two children Dashiell and Violet, in Los Angeles, California.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview : Author Turf
Author interview : Goodreads
Author biography: Simon & Schuster
Also by Stuart Gibbs:
Poached. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. March 2014.
Spy School (Book 1). Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 2012.
The Last Musketeer series. Harper Collins. 2011-2013.
Belly Up. Simon & Schuster. 2010.
read more!
Double Vision by F.T. Bradley
Lincoln’s seemingly harmless prank on a school field trip ends in both an expulsion for him AND a lawsuit from the injured party. Then two secret government agents from Pandora (whatever that is) contact Lincoln with a weird proposition: he will become a double for a missing spy in Paris, and the lawsuit will go away.
NERDS : National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley
With a lot of free time now that his friends have abandoned him because of his ugly orthodontic work, Jackson Jones explores his elementary school and discovers the secret hideout of the NERDS—other outcasts who use their geeky qualities to become high-tech, cutting-edge spies!
The Last Musketeer by Stuart Gibbs
Greg’s family isn’t rich anymore, so they head to Paris to sell the family heirlooms to the Louvre. When a museum employee grabs the crystal, the whole family falls into a painting, which transports them back to 1615. With his parents imprisoned by the evil Richelieu, it is up to Greg and the three swashbuckling teen musketeers to free his family.