Agent 9: Flood-a-geddon! by James Burks – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Horses, adventure, family, friendship, mystery.
Children’s book title: Agent 9: Flood-a-geddon! by James Burks.
Children’s author: James Burks.
Genre: Graphic Novel.
Published by: Piccadilly Press.
ISBN: 9781800786271.
Recommended for children aged: 7-12 year-olds.
First published: Paperback July 2023.
This children’s book is ideal for: KS2 comic fans.
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Our review:
Super Secret Spy Service – Keeping the world safe so you don’t have to.
Trainee spy Agent 9 (a sharp-suited tabby cat) has a tendency to use extreme measures when fighting crime for top-secret organisation S4.
Recent escapades include using a cargo ship to stop an armoured truck and deliberately causing an avalanche to stop a diamond smuggling operation.
Agent 9 calls their methods unconventional. Their handler O (an orangutan) is not convinced.
“There’s more to being a good agent than just completing the mission.”
Agent 9 and their robot fish partner Fin beg for one more chance to prove themselves and be officially taken off probation.
But before O can assign them a new mission, he and all the other ‘super-silly spy agents’ are kidnapped by supervillain King Crab. Agent 9 and Fin are the only ones who escape.
“Just tell me your plan already so I can stop you.”
Not content with controlling the spy agency, King Crab has a dastardly plan to melt the polar ice caps in order to build himself a global water park.
Agent 9 faces a race against time to reach Captain Crab’s (not so) secret island lair to try and stop this evil plan and save the world from ‘flood-a-geddon!’
Agent 9 is a full-colour, action-packed graphic novel. The serious ecological message of melting ice caps is nicely conveyed amidst the madcap adventure and James Bond-style gadget action.
Agent 9 is impulsive and rather disaster-prone, with a tendency to blow things up and forget vital pieces of equipment. Fin is the clever sidekick, whose robotic beeps only Agent 9 can translate.
The groan-worthy puns and ‘POW! ZAP!’ style sound effects add humour and playfulness to the story. The bold layouts and dominance of speech will appeal to reluctant readers while having animal characters helps to eschew typical gender roles.
The second book in the series – Agent 9: Mind Control – is due to be published in October 2023.
Agent 9: Flood-a-geddon! is a funny, action-packed graphic novel that will appeal to fans of the Dog Man and Bunny vs Monkey series.
Many thanks to Piccadilly Press for the review copy.
If you like Agent 9: Flood-a-geddon! by James Burks you might also like: our reviews of Indiana Bones and the Invisible City by Harry Heape, The Cartoons that Saved the World by Tom Ellen, The Bear Who Sailed the Ocean on an Iceberg by Emily Critchley, Big Sky Mountain by Alex Milway and Panda at the Door by Sarah Horne.
Browse our list of adventure stories for children.
