Middle-Grade Review: Archives of the Unexplained: Area 51 (Archives of the Unexplained, 1) (Steve Foxe)

When TJ’s great uncle passes away, his parents take him to the funeral. Afterwords, he is a bit bored with the reception at the house, and wanders into his uncle’s study, where he finds a file marked “CIA debriefing”. Intrigued, he tells his mother he is just looking for something to read, and discovers a bookcase that opens and leads to an underground office. He finds out that his uncle was involved in the investigations into Area 51, and reads the files eagerly. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, motivated by the Cold War, set up Project Blue Book to investigate whether or not aliens were a threat to US security. While problematic, this group lasted until 1969. Centered near Roswell, N. M, this secure area was all too close to the site of WWII era atomic bomb testing, since people didn’t quite understand all of the ramifications of nuclear fallout and radiation. Many instances of “alien sightings” were investigated, but eventually the focus of the group became to get people to be less worried about the threat of aliens! From 1970-2007, the government did not investigate anything about aliens, at least on the record! TJ reads information about Bob Lazar’s claims in 1989, the “weather balloons” of the 1950s, and anecdotal evidence about “Men in Black” that takes on a different feel when he is approached by real Men in Black! He hides with the files in the bathroom so he can finish reading them, but is eventually flushed out and must surrender the files. When he tries to tell his parents about his adventure, the secret door is stuck.