Previously Published Review: Splendini, by Scott Pinzon

The short blurb for this book is about as unhelpful as it is possible to be in confirming what's actually happening inside the pages. Here is a longer and more detailed version. If you don't like spoilers, then better stop reading now!

The Great Splendini! is better known as pre-teen Dave Scott, with a newfound secret - he's recently converted to Christianity. He's also got a not-so-secret - his dad works for Compudat, a major computing and hardware company rumored to be producing super secret technical wonders for the government. Dave's worried that his new faith will alienate him from his best friend, the goofy and smart-alek AJ, fond of wearing t-shirts bearing slogans like "Be Alert - the world needs more lerts" and "Pobody's Nerfect."

Dave, AJ, and moody newcomer Sylvia (with dark secrets and problems of her own) all attend a summer tour of the Compudat building, courtesy of Dave's dad. The tour is cut short by espionage. Shortly thereafter, things go from bad to worse as first AJ, then Sylvia, then Dave are all kidnapped and held until Dave's dad delivers the secret plans that the criminals failed to steal during their botched theft during the kids' tour.

The most memorable section of this short novel is the captivity and escape attempt itself. The teens are held in an abandonned carnival on an island. The carnival is described in gleeful detail - all of the derelict and rusted rides, the shorted lights, all building the creepy anticipation of an ensuing chase through mirror-mazes or rusted roller-coaster struts. They use their different strengths - stage magic, physical strength, and super-smarts respectively, to formulate an escape plan and foil their kidnappers.

Reading it again now, it's quite heavy on the Christian influences (published by Zondervan, this should not be a surprise) and faith plays a large part in encouraging the teens and others to reach for great things. Parents are loving and other adults (other than the baddies) are supportive and helpful, which is an interesting change from most other YA.

Still, the spotlight is on Dave/Splendini himself as he conquers his anxiety and learns to trust himself, his friends, and God.

I read this as a child, and greatly enjoyed the way that the teens used logic and reason to formulate their escape, and trusted each other to all play necessary parts in the attempt. I was thrilled to find this book again, and enjoyed the trip down memory lane. Perhaps not an exceptional book, but memorable to at least one young person who read it a long long time ago.