X-Men meets Ocean's Eleven in the new middle-grade series from the New York Times bestselling author, Lisa McMann (The Unwanteds).

Fifteen years ago, eight supernatural criminals fled Estero City to make a new life in an isolated tropical hideout. Over time, seven of them disappeared without a trace, presumed captured or killed. And now, the remaining one has died.

Left behind to fend for themselves are the criminals’ five children, each with superpowers of their own: Birdie can communicate with animals. Brix has athletic abilities and can heal quickly. Tenner can swim like a fish and can see in the dark and hear from a distance. Seven’s skin camouflages to match whatever is around him. Cabot hasn’t shown signs of any unusual power—yet.

Then one day Birdie finds a map among her father’s things that leads to a secret stash. There is also a note: 

Go to Estero, find your mother, and give her the map.

The five have lived their entire lives in isolation. What would it mean to follow the map to a strange world full of things they’ve only heard about, like cell phones, cars, and electricity? A world where, thanks to their parents, being supernatural is a crime?

Five children, the oldest now thirteen-years-old, have grown up isolated from the world. They, and their parents, are supernatural, and thus feared and imprisoned in the outside world. Birdie can talk mentally with animals, Tenner can swim like a fish and has super-sensitive hearing and the ability to see in the dark while Seven’s skin is like a chameleon and makes him blend in with his surroundings whether he wishes to or not; young Brix heals super-quick and can safely jump from a height while Cabot has yet to develop her talent.  Their parents, discriminated against in the outside world, had turned to lives of crime until fifteen years earlier when they escaped their city of Estero and fled to this isolated peninsula. Three years earlier, three of the parents left to return to Estero for items they could not source from nature and when they did not return, four others went to find them leaving only one parent to look after the children. Now he has died and the children are alone. Birdie finds a map in her father’s belongings and a letter telling her to go to Estero and find her mother. Not everyone thinks it is a good idea to leave so Birdie and Tenner head for Estero on their own to find the parents but after they leave Seven discovers vital information they will need to be safe in the city so the other three set out for Estero themselves.  And thus the adventure begins.

Part one is set in the camp where the children live. The characters, even the absent parents, are well-fleshed-out, the parents are not all goody-two-shoes and run the gamut from Louis, who stayed with the children and was a good parent, to other parents who are clearly not nice or trustworthy.  We learn about the children, their abilities, and their personalities.  Again these are well-rounded characters with jealousies and insecurities and loyalties. Further, we get a glimpse of how clueless these children will be when they reach Estero, which is obviously a modern-day city with tall buildings, cars, electricity and so on.  Their whole world has been in this isolated camp with only twelve people. While they have seen planes sometimes fly over and their parents have told them about the outside world, the concept of hundreds, maybe thousands or even millions of people in one place is a concept they really cannot envision.  While there is money in Birdie’s father’s trunk they really have no clue how exchanging money for food or clothes works or how much things might cost.  Eventually all five children reunite in Estero and learn the fate of some of their parents.

As the first in a series this does a good job in introducing the characters and the setting. While the current adventure wraps of satisfyingly there is room for lots more adventures. Middle school readers should find this a fun read as will their parents. Highly recommended ~~ Stephanie L Bannon

For more titles by Lisa McMann click here