Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret

Title: Explorer Academy The Nebula Secret

Author: Trudi Trueit

Publisher: National Geographic

ISBN:  9781426331596

Review:

Cruz Coronado loved a good adventure riddled with puzzles and clues. But most of all he loved to surf. On his last surf before he had to go to the Explorer Academy, a place where his mother died, an incident occurred, and someone was trying to drag him underneath the water. He narrowly escaped. He let his best friend Lani know but swore her to secrecy from his dad and aunt Marisol who teaches at the academy.  At the academy, Cruz would learn to be an explorer by navigating through various tests in a large simulator called a Computer Animated Virtual Experience or the CAVE.

Once there Cruz doesn’t think he will make any friends because of his mother and his aunt but he soon discovers that there are others there that consider him to be somewhat of a misfit just like them. But once again Cruz and even some of his friends were trapped in a room full of poisonous gas with no way out. They assumed it was part of a test, but it wasn’t. With the help of Mell, Cruz’s honeybee drone they might not have escaped. Now with the help of his new friends Cruz is on a mission to find out who is trying to hurt him and set out to unravel the death of his mother. Was it really an accident?

This new series from author Trudi Trueit and National Geographic Kids is filled with cool new gadgets and whiz kids that will keep any reader engaged. It’s smart and the characters are unique but still very relatable. Inside readers will find illustrations that depict the characters and the adventure. Parents and teachers could use this tool as a read-a-loud for more engagement and conversations about futuristic tools and their ideas on what they would create if given the chance.

Courtesy of Media Masters Publicity