A Very Popular Midgrade SF Adventure

I have hand sold quite a few copies of this book. Inevitably, the parents come back to thank us for recommending Flip because their children loved it so much.

Title: Flip
Author: David Lubar
Publisher and/or Distributor: Starscape Books
Publisher Website: www.tor.com
Pages: 304
ISBN: 0-765-34048-8
Price: $5.99
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is one of the most exciting books for mid grade and YA reluctant readers I have seen this year. Fraternal twins Ryan and Taylor stumble across fifty some disks, which are virtual recordings of some of history’s best heroes’ lives. The disks are activated by flipping them into the air and absorbing them into one’s hand. The thoughts, abilities, and personality characteristics of that disk’s hero are imparted to the flipper. Devil may care Ryan and his perfectionist sister Taylor are constantly embroiled in all kinds of adolescent angst situations, which include bullies, teachers with grudges, cliques, and demanding parents. Ryan, especially, uses the disks to help him overcome all these obstacles and much more.
I was particularly struck by the shortness of chapters, each one a cliff-hanger, which are used to draw along the reluctant reader. The book imparts some excellent history lessons while addressing typical problem areas for many adolescent readers. We are handselling this book like hotcakes from our bookstore. If I had to compare it to a recent book of similar popularity and impact, it would have to be Holes. We rated Flip a high five hearts.