Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Lively middle-school adventure celebrates knowing stuff.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Twelve-year-old Jake didn't set out to be THE SMARTEST KID IN THE UNIVERSE. He goes to school to hang out with his friends, especially Kojo and Grace, both brainiacs who disapprove of his slacking ways. But after devouring a whole lot of what he assumes are jelly beans but are in fact the latest creation of a mad scientist, he suddenly knows all kinds of things. Like Swahili. And geometry. Not, however, Spanish, which is unfortunate not only because his sister needs homework help and Grace is hinting strongly she'd like him to speak it, but also because Grace's ancestor, a clever cabin boy who recaptured his murdered father's treasure from a pirate in colonial times, left his descendants directions to find it -- in Spanish. Unbeknownst to the kids, the pirate's descendants are close at hand and, of course, will stop at nothing to get the treasure for themselves.
Is It Any Good?
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be on the edge of your seat in this wacky, imaginative adventure. You'll also learn a lot of math and Spanish in the first episode of Chris Grabenstein's brainiac-friendly middle-school adventure series. As hero Jake inadvertently becomes The Smartest Kid in the Universe after eating what he thinks are jelly beans, he and his friends become embroiled in a multi-century epic involving a pirate treasure from colonial times and villains who will stop at nothing to get it. Meanwhile the FBI is putting Jake's newfound skills to work solving more recent crimes. Crucial (and often hilarious) portions of the story are in Spanish, which will have some readers scrambling to keep up, but it's worth the effort. Here's an example:
"'My family is fine, too...,' said Grace. 'In fact, my uncle Charley has never been better. He's about to become something of a hero. Let's just say that tomorrow mi tío hará que sus antepasados se sientan muy, muy orgullosos.'
"'Right,' [villainess replies], blinking some more. 'Let's just say that, shall we?' She watched the three friends boldly stride out the exit. She could tell by their jiggling shoulders that they were snickering at her. Probably because they thought que no podía hablar español.
"But she did. She hablaba español like nobody's business. So she knew the annoying little brats were going to go digging for Dog Breath's booty that very night. Because brainy little Grace had said that tomorrow 'mi tío hará que sus antepasados se sientan muy, muy orgullosos.' Meaning that tomorrow her uncle, Charley Lyons, the direct descendant of the Cubano cabin boy Eduardo Leones, was going to 'make his ancestors very, very proud.'"
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how an ordinary person suddenly (and unintentionally) gets a superpower --and how it changes his life -- in The Smartest Kid in the Universe. What other stories like this do you know? How do the characters cope?
If you already speak Spanish, do you like the way it's used to tell the story here? If you don't already know Spanish, did you find yourself wanting to figure out those parts of the story?
Jake uses geography and math to help the FBI solve a bank robbery. Have you ever learned something in school that you thought was useless and boring -- and then it came in really handy one day?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Humor
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship , History , School ( Middle School ) , Pirates
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Random House Books for Young Readers
- Publication date : December 1, 2020
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
- Number of pages : 304
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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