Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper
by Michael Reisman

Simon Bloom is an ordinary-looking sixth-grader in the ordinary-looking town of Lawnville, New Jersey. His parents are workaholics and at school he is so good at staying unnoticed that he is practically invisible. Which gives him ample freedom to enjoy his favorite passtime: daydreaming. Then one day his daydreams get kissed by a magical breeze, which leads him to an enormous forest a few blocks from his house that has somehow gone unnoticed by everyone in town, where a book falls out of a rip in the universe and lands on his head.

It's the Teacher's Guide to Physics, ingeniously camouflaged as a school science book, but really containing formulas that enable the user to control the laws of physics. It is only one of several books belonging to the Council of Sciences, which exists to keep nature and the universe in proper running order. Why has a young Outsider been given access to this precious book? Because its rightful Keeper has been attacked and almost killed by a ruthless villain (nicknamed Sir) who believes that the power to control reality is owed to her(!). Simon doesn't know any of this at first. All he knows is that bad people are after him, and soon enough the good guys are out to get him too; and before he and his friends Owen and Alysha can breathe safely, they will have to learn to fly, move objects with their mind, control the forces of electricity and friction, and do lots of other science-y things.

This is a loopy adventure in which the characters meet their third-person omniscient narrator (a very awkward moment). Normal people witness freakish occurrences. A vile traitor is unmasked. A children's playground becomes a magical battleground. And a weird school principal gives new meaning to the phrase "Keep your hair on." Kids keen for science and full of imagination will get a kick out of the adventures of Simon and his newfound friends in this book, as well as its sequel Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect.

Robbie Fischer
Saint Louis USA

Recommended Age: 12+

If you would like to contact Robbie, you may do so here.