About this title: The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls' school--except that it's a school for spies. Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but she's also beginning her most dangerous mission--she's falling in love. Hyperion Books for Children/Miramax Books
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9781423100034ISBN:1423100034
Description: Fine. No dust jacket. No rips or tears in book. SMOKEFREE. No writing. The DJ is missing. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 284 p. Audience: Children/juvenile; Young adult. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9781423100041ISBN:1423100042
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 284 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9781423100041ISBN:1423100042
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 284 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9781423100041ISBN:1423100042
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 284 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
"Apparently, this is the most popular book at my daughter's middle school. She said that it was one of the top ten on the school library's website at the beginning of the year and she was in line for a long time and she finally got it last week. She is now in line for the second book which she really wants to read. She asked me if I badly wanted to read the second book, too, after I finished the first, but my response was less than what she expected. I can wait.
Aside from the gigantic holes in the fabric of reality, the author's style of writing is heavy on snark. She speaks teen very well. I snickered a lot. It was annoying, however, the way she had to repeat and reiterate and rephrase the fact that these private school girls were spies with multiple talents that they had been honing since they could walk. Holding that even farther aside, the book is every preteen's fantasy... it's a cross between Alias and the Princess Diaries.
Talented girl meets small town boy. Girl is clumsy, boy is interested... hearts a-flutter, lying in the form of "covert ops" ensues, girl loses boy, but strengthens relationships with others and herself through the experience. And through it all, there is still hope... and that's why Sarah can't wait to read the second book to find out if their love will survive."
"Cameron "Cammie" Morgan attends a very special school, one where the townspeople think they're a bunch of spoiled rich girls, but no one knows the feats they're capable of, because it's a school for spies. They take classes like Covert Operations and their school is full of hidden passageways that would make Harry Potter do a double take.
Cammie's used to this life, since her mother is the headmaster and her father died while spying, but she still has a lot to learn (she's only a sophomore). When she goes on a mission to a local fair and meets a townie, Josh, she can't give him her phone number or email address...but she can spy on what he's up to and have her friends read his email. Their attempts to do reconnaissance on him are highly entertaining, though even Josh soon catches on that Cammie's not a "normal girl."
Her classmates each have special skills, and put them to good use when they help Cammie stake out Josh, with newcomer Macey McHenry proving herself worthy by deciphering "boyspeak" (something even some of us adults have yet to master!).
These girls know how to protect themselves, and Carter's made Cammie a wonderful mix of headstrong spy legacy and lovestruck teenage girl. The asides about all the things Cammie could do to Josh (and his annoying friends) if she wanted to are priceless. It's clear why this first of the Gallagher Girl novels was optioned for film; the ending especially features a students vs. teacher scene with all sorts of fancy maneuvers you can picture the girls--dressed naturally all in black--putting their classroom spy tactics to great use. This is true "Girl Power," not as a silly cliché or fake statement, but about girls who have very adult intelligence and could literally kill, but also get giddy when a boy tells them he likes them.
Carter's humor is infectious and teachers, students and the poor non-spies are well-rounded and make good matches for each other. From a teacher who changes his face every semester to recruiters who come to the school from the upper echelons of government, this is a page-turner, but mostly it's a book about female friendship, budding romance, and how those two can work together...or tear each other apart. As soon as I finished it, I picked up the next book in the series, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, which I'm now eagerly tearing through."
"The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school teaches advanced martial arts in PE, chemistry always consists of the latest in chemical warfare, and everyone breaks CIA codes for extra credit in computer class. So in truth, while the Gallagher Academy might say it's a school for geniuses what they really mean is spies. But what happens when a Gallagher Girl falls for a boy who doesn't have a code name?
Cammie Morgan may be fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (three of which involve a piece of uncooked spaghetti), but the Gallagher Academy hasn't prepared her for what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through a mall without him ever being the wiser, but can she have a regular relationship with a regular boy who can never know the truth about her? Cammie may be an elite spy in training, but in her sophomore year, she's doing something riskier than ever-she's falling in love."
"This book is a YA romance, spy-style. Pretty much everything about this book--the spy gadgets, spy stories, numerous hidden passageways, and so on--are all wildly implausible, but the story is nonetheless extremely funny (if you enjoy this type of humor). The overall tone of the book is very light and funny, but it ends on a serious note.
The pacing was excellent, the world-building was good, and the characters were engaging.
However, I had a problem with the ending. Cammie has to decide what she wants in her future. In the last chapter, she's made that decision and is satisfied with it--and so was I. Then the author plays a trick on both Cammie and the reader, making us think she can have both instead of either/or, only to cruelly ripe that hope away the moment she's embraced the idea. She's left with her original decision, but it no longer feels satisfying to me (or, apparently, to Cammie from the way she reacts). This wasn't major enough to make me not recommend the book, though.
There is romance and kissing, but no sex or cussing. Overall, I'd recommend this as a "good, clean fun" novel."
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