Middle-Grade Review: Snoop By Gordon Korman

Carter is on a ski trip to Colorado with his father and younger brother Martin, but is really more interested in watching the viral “Chattanooga Chop” videos on his phone than in experiencing the great outdoors. When his father leaves him watching Martin on the bunny slope while he tackles a harder run, Carter is so absorbed in his phone that he doesn’t see Martin barreling right towards him. The resultant collision leaves Carter with two broken legs! Back home with his mother, who has custody of the boys since the parents are divorced, Carter has to attend Zoom school, but has little else that he is able to do, since even getting in and out of bed in the morning is a struggle. He turns to his favorite pasttime, screens, and becomes entranced by the video surveillance cameras up around town. At first, he uses them primarily to spy on his crush, Lacey, and her boyfriend, unpleasant popular kid Maddox, who has a group that does pranks around town, Chairmen of the Bored. Carter’s friend Ethan occasionally visits, and the two even figure out how to break into the closed circuit cameras in the frozen yogurt shop that Lacey and Maddox visit. The more he watches, though, the more things stand out to Carter as troublesome. A man who seems to be casing a local art store where Carter’s mother has a print for sale. (She works in photography, taking pictures of construction sites, often using drones.) A pregnant mother in the park struggles with her toddler every day. There’s a suspicious red Maserati parked in the same place every day. And strangest of all, Carter keeps seeing red pandas, bonobos, and other unusual and endangered animals around town. What’s with the Zipy Delivery Vans always around town? And the smell in the abandoned courthouse slated to be demolished? This makes him very distracted in school, although he does notice that his teacher, Mr. Grimes, doesn’t seem to be doing well. Carter calls the police several times, but is eventually told to stop wasting their time. When Carter finally pieces everything together (and saves some classmated from an errant snow leopard!), will he be able to convince the police to help?