Trackers #1
Patrick Carman
Scholastic
May 2010
224 pp
The Short of It:
A fun, new series by the author of Skeleton Creek.
The Rest of It:
Patrick Carman has managed to do it again. In Trackers, we meet four tech-savvy teens, Adam, Emily, Finn and Lewis. They track the digital trails left behind by others and in doing so, become involved in the search for dangerous hacker. Or so it seems.
As with his previous books, Trackers combines reading with an online video component. As readers go through the story, they are provided with a password and directed to a website for more information. Watch the video, get the clues. Sounds fun? It is.
Young adults are hard to impress. You have to keep them guessing and I feel that Carman is very successful at doing this. The videos are engaging and the acting is pretty good too. Kids are a lot more savvy these days when it comes to technology so including the online component is a smart way to engage them.
This particular story deals with high-tech gadgets which is also a huge interest to kids today. This series is geared towards the 9-12 group and I have to say that I agree. Kids in this age range will enjoy this series.
My only complaint, is the abrupt ending. I actually flipped through pages to see if I missed something since I was reading an ARC. Yes, there’s a little bit of a postscript but I really felt the need to run out and get the next book and of course, the next book isn’t out yet.
Story of my life.
Overall, I’d say that this will be another hit series for Carman.
If you’d like to check out website for more info, click here.
Source: This ARC was sent to me by Scholastic.
Book Chatter 
Good to know that if I want to read this, I should wait, so if I really love it, I will be able to get the sequel right away! :–)
It must be good since it left you wanting more!
Sounds like a great series for young readers that will really touch base with their interests.
That sounds kind of neat to have an online component to supplement the book.
And I wonder what my own digital trail looks like…
This sounds like an interesting series. I’ve noticed the new trend of incorporating the internet and wondered how effective that has been. I’ll probably give it a try one of these days.