Zodiac MG

Zodiac by the renown Stan Lee, along with Stuart Moore, and illustrated by Andie Tong, is a really good book!  This book packs action from the start to the very end and there it promises more as the series is advertised as a trilogy, and thank goodness, because you will be yelling for more, just as I am.  I can't wait to find out what happens to Steven, Jasmine, Carlos, Roxanne, Liam, Duane, and Kim, not to mention Maxwell and his goons.  But I am ahead of myself, let me start a bit earlier in the story.
Steven is just a ordinary kid on a once in lifetime school trip in Hong Kong, when in a strange Chinese heritage museum he slips away from his group, following the strange guide down into the basement (of sorts).  While down there Steven and the strange guide (Jasmine) are hit and infused with the power of their Zodiac signs while trying to stop Maxwell from hatching his evil plan, and unfortunately also releasing four rogue Zodiac powers into the wild.  Now Steven, Jasmine, and Jasmine's friends must join to track down the people infused by the rogue Zodiac powers before Maxwell as his group of paramilitary goons get to them first.
The characters in this book (even with their Zodiac powers) are still believable, they still have the same fears, insecurities, and joys as the rest of us.  It is refreshing to see that it didn't get lost, and that maybe things like this can happen to plain everyday people like you and me.  It is also nice to see how four kids from very different walks of life and are very different from each other can come together and learn to work as a team.  This is also a great book on diversity in so many ways, the weak and the strong, the male and the female, and the different backgrounds and types of people that come together, it just melds together, it's so nice to show that no matter who you are you matter.  This is a great book for all the middle graders, boy and girl alike as the two main characters are a boy and a girl and both will make awesome role models and are both strong very capable characters.  This book will keep you on the edge of your seat and glued chapter after chapter until you realize you are at the end and you too will be yelling for more.

5 STARS