Anthony Horowitz: How Does the Kid Do It?
The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz are empowering and engrossing fare for the middle school crowd — and really fun reads for their parents. If your kid has these books, make sure you read them too (not only for the adventure but because some political and social issues are raised that are well-worth discussing) and if your boy or girl has not read these books, obtain them immediately! I love this Alex Rider kid, and although I would not want one of my own kids to have his same sang froid in the face of terrorizing danger ( I would want them to run away as fast as they possibly could), I remember that when I was their age I loved to read about kids who could outsmart adults, and Alex Rider does that so well. He is not a superhero or super suave, smart, or cunning. He thinks his problems through and then he goes for it, implementing his plan of escape, survival, or spoliation of the bad guys’ plans. There is no graphic (gross or age inappropriate) violence or damage, and the bad guys are the ones who go down in the end.
Alex Rider is an orphan, a scenario used so often it no longer offends: both of Rider’s parents were killed shortly after Rider’s birth. Their death is a specter over his life, one that needles him rather than soothes. The first book in the series, Stormbreaker, begins with the murder of Rider’s guardian, his uncle Ian. Rider discovers the truth about the profession of his uncle and father (spy) and that he has been raised himself for espionage, brought up to speak different languages and to possess certain skills such as karate and rock climbing. Manipulated by the MI6, British Intelligence, to take part in an investigation touching on his uncle’s murder and much more, Rider unwillingly begins his career as a spy and his life changes forever, as the next six books in the series prove in their sequential non-stop action and adventure, danger and intrigue, all taking of it taking place in under a year’s time. No fourteen year-old ever did so much in so little time, and all of it is exciting!
Yesterday I read the latest in the series, Snakehead, and although the plot does not hold up to intense scrutiny, why should it? The book is exciting, intriguing, and the question often raised in these kinds of books (think Bond), of why doesn’t the bad guy just shoot Rider and get it over with, is most satisfyingly and horrifyingly answered (brought home the terrifying underlying premise of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go).
These books are just as much for girls as for boys: Alex is a kid struggling to listen to himself, understand adults, and navigate through unknown waters. Any kid, regardless of gender, can identify with that load, and all kids will love the wild ride that is one year in the life of Alex Rider.
