Aren't You a Little Young

Growing up, one of the things that bothered me the most was when someone said, "aren't you a little young for that?"  UGH!!  It always made me so mad.  I think that's a pretty universal feeling.  We all want to feel capable of whatever we set our minds to regardless of age.  

I think that feeling is why we are so drawn to stories that have a young protagonist.  Look at Harry, he saved the wizarding world when he was still in his teens.  Katniss won the hunger games (more than once) and spearheaded a revolution.  The Pevensie siblings became kings and queens of Narnia before they even finished school.  So it's no wonder that the Alex Rider series is so popular.

Alex Rider is only 14 years old, but he is already a spy for MI6.  Not that he had much choice in the matter, read about the first book in this series here.  Point Blank picks up shortly after Stormbreaker left off.  But here's the great part.  You don't have to read Stormbreaker to understand Point Blank.  They're each separate adventures (kinda like James Bond).

In Point Blank Alex is sent to infiltrate a very prestigious private school.  So prestigious they only have a handful (aka less than 10) of students at a time and the fees are over $15,000 a term.  Right away Alex realizes that there is something suspicious about the other students.  They're all exactly 14 years old, they all have wealthy powerful parents, and somehow they all seem to have the same mannerisms.  Could they be brainwashed?  Or is there something more?

Point Blank is filled with everything a good spy novel needs.  An effortlessly cool yet supremely talented spy (that's Alex), creepy locations (that's the school), a villain who is simultaneously terrifying and intriguing (not gonna tell you, you'll have to read the book yourself), and plenty of ingenious gadgets.

Going undercover...that's kids stuff.