First part of The Accelerati Trilogy, this young
adult
tale introduces Nick and Danny who move house with their
father after the tragic home fire that changed their lives
forever. Arriving at the house left to them by a great-
aunt, the boys get to checking out the musty rooms and
cluttered attic. Nick's fourteen and a garage sale sounds
like a good way to make some cash and get rid of the junk.
TESLA'S ATTIC contains a strange lamp that, switched on,
draws people from all around the area to buy the elderly
appliances, such as Caitlin who can't stop herself buying a
tape recorder.
Next day some people have trouble with the wonky toaster,
the ivory disc, and Caitlin discovers that the tape
recorder picks up her thoughts, not just her voice. Nick
and Danny's first day at school in Colorado Springs is
complicated by their having been deleted from computer
systems. And their dad, a retired baseball player, is out
looking for a job when four shady men call to see if any of
the attic goods are still available. Nikola Tesla, an
inventor in the days of Edison and Marconi, once lived in
Colorado Springs; and Petula and Mitch in school believe
that he could have left some trial gadgets with Nick's
great-aunt, a socialite. Even that doesn't explain how
strange their lives are becoming.
This is a hugely enjoyable read and enquiring minds could
do worse than imitate Tesla, who invented a wide range of
innovations, made a million dollars by the age of forty and
gave it all away. The kids in town are each individuals
with distinct lives and range from creepy but helpful
Vince, and Caitlin with her game playing and smashed art,
to chatty Mitch whose father lives in a 'gated community'
which turns out to be the wrong kind of maximum security
accommodation. The kids experience baseball on a cosmic
level and find out just who their friends are. The shady
men turn out to be the mysterious Accelerati society -
whatever that is.
TESLA'S ATTIC is published by Disney and I could well see it
being made into a film on the lines of The Goonies. I'd
pay to watch it. I also liked the witty chapter headings
and the promise of two more books in the series. TESLA'S
ATTIC by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman is an addictive
read for teenagers and serious fun.
After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his
younger brother, and their father move into a ramshackle
Victorian house they've inherited. When Nick opens the door
to his attic room, he's hit in the head by a toaster. That's
just the beginning of his weird experiences with the old
junk stored up there. 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. What's more, Nick
figures out that the attic is a strange magnetic vortex,
which attracts all sorts of trouble. It's as if the attic
itself has an intelligence . . . and a purpose.
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. Nick and his
new friends must retrieve everything that was sold at the
garage sale and keep it safe. 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. 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.
Fans of intrigue, action, humor, and nonstop surprises are
guaranteed a read unlike any other in Tesla's Attic, Book
One of the Accelerati Trilogy.
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