"An hilarious coming-of-age story about home, friendship, and learning that sometimes the most exciting adventures happen behind-the-scenes.
Alex Davis is convinced that seventh grade is going to be his year. After spending all summer at skate camp, he knows he'll finally be seen as one of the "cool kids" . . . until he's mistakenly put in the wrong elective. Now, instead of taking a popular video games class with his friends, he's stuck in Filmmaking with hipster teacher Pablo and a group of eccentric classmates.
But when it's announced that their films will be entered in the school's annual Golden Reel competition, Alex becomes determined to claim first prize and salvage his seventh-grade year.
With the help of his longtime crush, his best friend, and a peculiar new student, Alex sets out to make a masterpiece. Soon he discovers that someone is trying to sabotage his film and finds himself embroiled in a mystery-one that leads him and his crew to conniving classmates, traitorous teachers, and even corrupt city politicians!"
"Young fans of Ernie Cline's Ready Player One will love this classic video game inspired mystery filled with elements of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library and From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
What if playing video games was prepping you to solve an incredible real-world puzzle and locate a priceless treasure?
Twelve-year-old Ted Gerson has spent most of his summer playing video games. So when his great-uncle dies and bequeaths him the all so-called treasure in his overstuffed junk shop of an apartment, Ted explores it like it's another level to beat. And to his shock, he finds that eccentric Great-Uncle Ted actually has set the place up like a real-life escape-the-room game!
Using his specially honed skills, Ted sets off to win the greatest game he's ever played, with help from his friends Caleb and Isabel. Together they discover that Uncle Ted's "treasure" might be exactly that-real gold and jewels found by a Japanese American unit that served in World War II. With each puzzle Ted and his friends solve, they get closer to unraveling the mystery-but someone dangerous is hot on their heels, and he's not about to let them get away with the fortune.
Praise for Click Here to Start:
'As addictive as your favorite video game. I couldn't put it down.'-Adam Gidwitz, New York Times bestselling author of A Tale Dark and Grimm
'Humor, believable characters, and adventure...keeps readers in suspense to the end. A winner for mystery enthusiasts.'-Kirkus Reviews
'In this clever debut, Markell takes readers on a clue-filled adventure...[and] maintains an energetic, entertaining balance of character-driven narrative and tricky challenges.'-Publishers Weekly
'Markell's highly entertaining debut novel...is a well-paced read with fully realized and likable characters,...[and] should have strong appeal to gamers, fans of video game-based stories, and reluctant readers.'-SLJ
'This book will appeal to a wide audience. Readers who enjoyed Schreiber's Game Over, Pete Watson will enjoy the video game component; fans of Fitzgerald's Under the Egg will enjoy reading more about the Monuments Men; detective story aficionados will revel in the inclusion of The Maltese Falcon story. This is a great book to hand to just about any middle grade reader.'-YA Books Central
A School Library Guild selection
An Amazon Best Books of the Month Selection"
