'This collaboration between Shusterman and Elfman tempers the scarier elements of Nick's quest with deft, humorous writing and plenty of the ordinary adventures of a new kid in school finding his niche. A wild tale in the spirit of Back to the Future, with a hint of Malamud's The Natural tossed in.'-Kirkus Reviews 'Lively, intelligent prose elevates this story of teenagers versus mad scientists, the third-person point of view offering a stage to various players in their play of galactic consequence. It's a lot for a guy to handle, especially when he'd much rather fly under the radar as the new kid in town.įans of intrigue, action, humor, and nonstop surprises are guaranteed a read unlike any other in Tesla's Attic, Book One of the Accelerati Trilogy. But the task is fraught with peril-in addition to the dangers inherent in Tesla's mysterious and powerful creations, a secret society of physicists, the Accelerati, is determined to stop Nick and alter destiny to achieve its own devious ends. Nick and his new friends must retrieve everything that was sold at the garage sale and keep it safe. Ultimately Nick learns that the genius Nikola Tesla placed the items-his last inventions-in the attic as part of a larger plan that he mathematically predicted. It's as if the attic itself has an intelligence. What's more, Nick figures out that the attic is a strange magnetic vortex, which attracts all sorts of trouble. After getting rid of the odd antiques in a garage sale, Nick befriends some local kids-Mitch, Caitlin, and Vincent-and they discover that all of the objects have extraordinary properties. That's just the beginning of his weird experiences with the old junk stored up there. When Nick opens the door to his attic room, he's hit in the head by a toaster. After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and their father move into a ramshackle Victorian house they've inherited.

The Very Scary Almanac by Eric Elfman