The Journal of Curious Letters [Paperback]

When Atticus "Tick" Higginbottom begins receiving mysterious letters, his life changes dramatically. The mysterious "M.G." warns him that he must either burn the letter or face unknown dangers. Each of the letters contains clues that he (and the reader) must unravel to solve the mystery. Deciding to meet the challenge, Tick uses the internet to meet several other friends from around the world who help him solve the clues.

The 13th Reality is filled with a variety of odd but enchanting characters both good and evil. Unlike the typical swords and sorcery type fantasies, Dashner makes use of quantum physics. Also, unlike many YA fantasies, Tick is not an orphan, but actually turns to his father for help.

The story is told with a tongue in cheek humor that kids will love--somewhat reminiscent of Lemony Snicket or Dean Lorey. The action comes fast and furious. The clues are both funny and fun to solve. And the ending leaves clear opportunity for the characters to explore other realities and face the growing evil.

I would highly recommend this book to kids ages 8 and up. The younger ones will enjoy the humor and the older ones will get off on the cool gadgets and interesting SciFi aspects. This series looks to be a definite winner.

I had the opportunity to not only read this book in manuscript form, but also to read an advance copy to a class of thirty-one 7th grade Honors English students. I feel confident in saying that kids will love this book---since every one of my students thought it was great. Some of their comments include:

"I can't think of a better book than yours."
"We just finished the book and I thought it was awesome!"
"My all-time favorite thing about the book was Mistress Jane. I've decided I want to be her."
"I think your book will go on to be a New York Times Bestseller."
"I can't wait for your next book, even though your first one isn't out yet."
"It's a great book. Everyone should read it."
"Oh how I love your book. You know how to keep it tense."
"I loved the 13th Reality so much! Once your series hits stores, you're going to be able to retire early."
"One thing I like about your book is that a parent plays an active role in the story. In most middle grade novels the kid goes off on a magical adventure and the parents remain totally oblivious, despite all the obvious hints that their child is doing extremely dangerous things. That, or the parents are just dead. The book has likeable characters."

As for me, I loved it enough that I've written reviews for several professional journals to tell other teachers and librarians just how great it is. Teachers will feel safe in using this book as a read-aloud for their students. Librarians will promote it to a wide variety of readers. This is one that should belong on every school library shelf, although once word gets around, it won't stay there long! BUY MULTPILE COPIES.

I received The 13th Reality as an advance readers copy from the publisher through Library Thing on the 6th of February and finished it up on the morning of the 8th. I am happy to report that I got a real kick out of reading this book and am looking forward to the next book in the series. The premise is that 13 year old Atticus Higgenbottom (who prefers to be called Tick), our brainy co-protagonist (who enjoys chess, science, math and receives some typical for this genre, teasing and bullying at school as a result) begins receiving strange letters from all over the world with clues in them and which challenge him to undertake an adventure that the author of the mysterious missives insists is both deathly dangerous and threatens to destroy reality itself. In all, Atticus will receive 12 clues, riddles which he must solve by a certain date in order to successfully engage in this challenging and dangerous mission. I found the premise intriguing and while it's certainly not new or innovative, it's a sure crowd pleaser in the 10-14 age range of readers. I particularly enjoyed that Atticus has a strong and loving relationship with his whole family and is able to confide in his father when things get worrisome...it's a bit of a deviation from the standard abused/abandoned/orphaned child(ren) that generally populate this type of story (and a refreshing deviation at that). I like that he is able to ultimately undertake this journey with parental consent and does receive some minor assistance and support from them during the course of the story events.

Overall, The 13th Reality is engaging, fun, and managed to keep me interested to the very end. I give it 4 stars...I almost gave it three, but since I am actually looking forward to the next book in the series, I've bumped it up one star...any book that you really would like to read the rest of the series upon completion is a success in my opinion. I think it would be best received by the 10-14 age range...I had my daughter read the description on the back and she indicated a definite interest in reading it as well. I must also be quite honest, it was snatched (with great glee) off my desk when I announced I was done with it by my 10 year old daughter, I suspect that it will be a great hit! It's two down in her reading pile at her reading rate it will take her 7 to 10 days to read once she gets to it. I shall endeavor to update this review with her final verdict once she has read it...it is after all, children's fiction!