Review Detail

MABEL OPAL PEAR AND THE RULES FOR SPYING follows Mabel a young girl whose parents are super secret spies called “cleaners”. After stumbling upon their secret Mabel begins her own training to become a super secret spy. When her Aunt and Uncle and their bratty daughter claim to be her new guardians, her Aunt Gertie is thrown in jail and her parents, away on a mission, go missing Mabel knows she will have to put all her super secret training to work. With just her spy rules and her instinct, Mabel knows she will have to figure out whats going on before the bad guys get what they came for.

When I was a kid I watched Harriett the Spy one too many times and I spent my days “secretly” following my family members around and writing in my tiny composition notebook everything they did. So the little kid in me jumps for joy every time she sees a spy book, because who doesn’t want to be a super secret spy? And The Rules for Spying is definitely going on my list of awesome amazing spy novels. Mabel is so brilliant, half the time I would get so frustrated because none of the adults would listen to her and she’d have to go and figure it out on her own. Or with her best friend Stanley’s help. Which was frustrating but I also really loved seeing Mabel in action. The way she thought and how she applied all her spy training. Nothing was too hard for Mabel to solve.

There were times that this story was a bit predictable but it just had this quality that made it difficult to even put down. I ended up reading it in one sitting because despite figuring out who the bad guy(s) were, I wanted to know how it ended and what was going to happen. Hosch writes this story and characters that pull you in and keep you on the edge of your seat. Every time I read one of these books I always get so nervous when the character is sneaking around. And for a majority of this book that’s what Mabel does. I seriously couldn’t stop with this book and it’s one of the reasons I loved it. It was funny and really good and the adults were adults, but Mabel was this amazing and totally kick butt character. Especially when she outsmarted the adults in the novel. I can’t recommend this one enough. If you love anything to do with spies I highly suggest reading this one. It’s funny and amazing and you will not regret picking it up. Amanda Hosch is the queen of writing great characters with lots of heart.