Spy School: The Graphic Novel

5.0 (2)

0.0 (0)

626 0

Write Review Add to favorites

Author(s)

Stuart Gibbs

Publisher

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

February 01, 2022

ISBN

978-1534455429

Buy This Book

Can an undercover nerd become a superstar secret agent? The first book in Stuart Gibbs’s New York Times bestselling Spy School series is now a graphic novel!

Ben Ripley may only be in middle school, but he’s already pegged his dream job: CIA or bust. Unfortunately for him, his personality doesn’t exactly scream “secret agent.” In fact, Ben is so awkward, he can barely get to school and back without a mishap. Because of his innate nerdiness, Ben is not surprised when he is recruited for a magnet school with a focus on science—but he’s entirely shocked to discover that the school is actually a front for a junior CIA academy. Could the CIA really want him?

Actually, no. There’s been a case of mistaken identity—but that doesn’t stop Ben from trying to morph into a supercool undercover agent, the kind that always gets the girl. And through a series of hilarious misadventures, Ben realizes he might actually be a halfway decent spy…if he can survive all the attempts being made on his life! With action-packed, eye-catching art, join Ben Ripley as he survives his first year at the Academy of Espionage.

Editor reviews

4 reviews

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

5.0(2)

Characters

N/A(0)

Writing Style

N/A(0)

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0(2)

Perfect for Spy fans!

February 13, 2022 (Updated: February 13, 2022)

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

5.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

Ben Ripley wants nothing more than to be a CIA agent. When he excels at an online game, he gets chosen to attend an elite spy school under the illusion of a nerdy science one. The only problem is that it's nothing like he expects it to be. The classes are a little more boring from what you see in movies. When Ben gets targeted by assassins, he has to rely on the star of the school Erica to help him get out of trouble. But there's a mole within the academy that's leaking information and they need to figure out who it is before it's too late.

Having never read any of the books in the Spy School series, I came into this one with a fresh mind. As a fan of graphic novels, this one reads really well. There's a perfect text to illustration ratio and the illustrations are vibrant with proper "action signals", like lines placed in the appropriate position. Ben is a relatable character since he was an ordinary child picked to attend this spy school His reaction to each situation are humorous and appropriate. I like how reliable Erica is and had a lot of fun reading this novel. I look forward to more like it!

Final Verdict: SPY SCHOOL THE GRAPHIC NOVEL is a fun middle grade graphic novel and perfect for fans of adventure, spies, humor, and graphic novels. It holds a child's interest with a fast-paced plot and action packed scenes.

Bethany Wicker, Listings Manager & Staff Reviewer Top 10 Reviewer 841 reviews

Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0

A Great Graphic Novel Adaptation

November 10, 2021

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

5.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

This graphic novel adaptation of Gibbs' title from a decade ago is very true to the original. Ben is surprised when he is recruited by the CIA to go to their Academy of Espionage, which is cleverly disguised as a geeky science academy because aside from some cryptography skills, he's not that smart. Turns out that he has been brought in as bait-- the word is put out that he invented a special code, and people start coming after him. The daughter of the man who recruited him, Erica, tells him that all is not as it seems at the school, and there is a mole that must be found. Of course, if Ben can find the mole, he might be able to stay in the school. There is a lot of personal peril-- bombs under the building, people kidnapping and drugging him... but Erica is always saving him. Is the mole a fellow student who just appears to be stupid? Is the principal as stupid as he looks? And what's up with Erica's father? Once Erica tries her own plan to flush out the mole (emailing from the principal's account that Ben has developed Jackhammer, a super code hacker program), will everything work out?

Good Points

First of all, I like that the style of the original covers was maintained, with the addition of the comic style panels in the back ground. Very clever. My hope with graphic novel versions of chapter books is that young readers will eventually pick up the novel as well, so this tie in is important.

The illustration style is a little different than some I have seen; a little bit more like a comic book, but not entirely. The font is in all caps, but a very readable san serif font that is not as small as some books. The color pallette is heavy on grays, brown, and greens, befitting the sometimes militaristic aspect of the plot, but does have some pops of color when the mood is being lightened.

Ben abd Erica certainly have the most time on page, and their relationship is noteworthy, but in this version there were a couple of characters that really popped a bit for me; the doddering Professor Crandall who is just pretending to not understand what is going on, Erica's father, who is shown in a sharp suit, and Ben's friend Mike, who hovers on the periphery, trying to understand what is going on with his friend.

This alternates pages intense with word bubbles with pages that are mainly action, so is well paced and easy to get through. There's still a lot of text, so best for fans of wordier graphic novels. This is not quite as believable as Alex Rider or the Gallagher Girl books, since it walked right along the edge of goofy, but seeing the pictures somehow adds to the believability.

I'm a huge fan of Gibbs' series-- Fun Jungle, Moon Base Alpha, and Charlie Thorne, so it makes sense that his works would get a graphic novel treatment, and what better book to start on than Spy School?