Do you like pirates? Do you like adventure? Do you like humor? Then you should read this book, which is full of these things!
Jake McQuade, the coolest kid but definitely not the smartest, goes to Riverview Middle School. He has a best friend named Koji and a crush named Grace. But Grace is much smarter than Jake, let’s be honest. One night, when Emma goes to the bathroom at a fancy hotel that they are eating at for free, Jake spots a jar of jelly beans since he is so hungry and eats all of them!
Suddenly, on the ride home on the bus, Jake becomes…different. He seems smarter and keeps saying facts about things that would surprise many people who knew about him. Jake starts to put together the pieces and realizes that because of the “jelly beans” he ate, he is now a big brainiac. A scientist at this place made them, and they are actually pills. Jake and Koji now know about why Jake’s IQ just became larger.
Grace also notices this, but in the meanwhile, something else is going on. Mrs. Malvolio, the school principal, is acting suspicious lately, and the three kids find out she wants to tear down this school and find the treasure that was buried underneath. So Jake starts competing in the Quiz Bowl game as well as Koji, and together they form a team. Mrs. Malvolio tries to sabotage the team once by giving Grace brownies that will make her feel sick, but it fails. Grace still competes in the Quiz Bowl game, and their team wins.
The second time, it’s when Jake, Koji, and Grace are trying to figure out the location of the treasure with clues. Mrs. Malvolio comes to Jake’s apartment, and while they are greeted, a jewel thief named LeVisqueux puts the answers to the Quiz Bowl game in Jake’s room so it looks like he is cheating. He gets grounded, and Koji and Grace become angry at him.
Luckily, the FBI comes and says that Jake has been framed by Mrs. Malvolio and LeVisqueux. They start being more careful about them and continue trying to figure out where the treasure is. After multiple equations, they look for it before a Quiz Bowl game round. With help from Mr. Lyons, Grace’s uncle, they get supplies and start digging for it. However, Mrs. Malvolio and LeVisqueux come and steal it from them and trap them inside the cave in hopes of making sure they can’t come back to the Quiz Bowl game. And even though Mr. Lyons is guarding the place, he gets knocked out by LeVisqueux. Will Jake and his friends make it out? Read the book to find out!
I love this book and give it a five star rating because of how it has humor, logic, and is full of jelly beans! 🙂 Also, its plot is like a movie and is full of adventure. To add to it, the book has some logic puzzles for you to solve to test your brain! I would recommend this book to people who love thrills, adventure, and humor. So go ahead and read The Smartest Kid in the Universe!
Written by Kruti Patel
