The Double Helix – Book Review

Book Review
The Double Helix (Explorer Academy Book 3)
Written by Trudi Trueit
Published September 3, 2019 by National Geographic

Why I chose this book:
Because I could hardly wait to read it after The Nebula Secret and The Falcon's Feather. A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Mom's Review
As I sit down to write this, my husband says across the cafe table, "You can write that your husband is sick of hearing how much you liked this book." Apparently, I've been raving to him about it for the past several days without even realizing it. I knew I had a book hangover and that I wish Book 4 were already available, but apparently I'm worse off than I thought. I haven't gotten this wrapped up in a series of middle-grade books since The Giver and Ranger's Apprentice when I was teaching 6th grade.

The Double Helix is like if National Geographic produced a young people's version of James Bond/Mission Impossible/Indiana Jones. There are amazing gadgets, puzzles to solve, tomb robbers to thwart, artifacts to uncover, and kidnappers to catch. And Cruz, Sailor, Emmett, and Lani navigate all this at age 12 while in school. If you haven't read the first two books, then The Double Helix wouldn't make sense. The characters are on the hunt for the third cipher — in Petra! Nebula (the evil big Pharma corporation) continues to threaten Cruz's life while also trying to get the cipher from him. The ending is both satisfying and a cliffhanger. Book 4 can't come fast enough.

Explorer Academy is a series that I recommend for middle grade readers (literally, when I am asked for gift recommendations, I suggest these books). It's thrilling and inspiring. I wouldn't be surprised if we have a bunch of aspiring archeologists, conservationists, and inventors out of the Explorer Academy readers.