The Boy who Knew Everything by Victoria Forester

 

In the first book of this series by Victoria Forester - The Girl who could Fly -  we meet Piper McCloud and read about her daring escape from the evil Dr Hellion. Piper has made friends with a wonderful group of "special kids" but her best friend is most certainly Conrad. In this second instalment we can now discover more about this super intelligent boy and why his father, who has now become the US President, has declared his son dead.

As this story begins Piper McCloud and Conrad Harrington have moved home to Piper's family farm in Lowland County. Conrad's brilliant mind has helped Joe McCloud in so many practical ways and the farm is flourishing. Conrad has also been experimenting with a time machine. On the day of his twelfth birthday Piper gives Conrad the missing ingredient - weapons grade plutonium. Conrad should be happy but after his father makes his dreadful announcement on national television, Conrad sinks very low. Luckily a momentous event involving Joe jolts Conrad back into action and all of the kids are now reunited to form a crack team who rescue people from danger all over the world. Again things are going well for Piper, Conrad and all the kids until the day, in Fall, of the Lowland County Festival. 

One event at the festival is a science fair. The entries are sure to be very simple so Conrad has no intention of entering but someone takes his time machine and puts it on display. The thief is a "boy" called Max and meeting this strange guy who is actually hundreds if not thousands of years old - an immortal - a dangerous fellow with a wicked sense of "fun", will change Conrad and Piper's lives in way you will never imagine or anticipate.

Publisher blurb: Conrad Harrington III doesn't want to be a super genius; he just wants to live a normal life. But his father is the newly elected president of the United States, so he knows being normal isn't really an option. When suspicious disasters suddenly start happening all over the globe, his best friend, Piper McCloud, knows the world needs Conrad's gifts - and that all of the exceptional children need him to lead them to put a stop to the events.  Can they work together to save themselves... and the world? Pan Macmillan

A few weeks ago I talked about re-reading The Girl who could Fly. I was very keen to read the sequels and so I decided to purchase them. I plan to gift them to a school library. One warning though - The Boy who Knew Everything ends with a cliff hanger and so you will be desperate (as I was) to read the third and final instalment which was published this year. It is a fabulous conclusion to the series.

Listen to an audio sample of The Boy who Knew Everything from early in chapter one - Page 6 to Page 9.