By Eric Elfman

Also available from:

On Sale: Feb 11, 2014
Page Count: 256 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9781423155126

Fans of intrigue, action, humor, and nonstop surprises are guaranteed an adventure unlike any other in Tesla's Attic, Book One of the Accelerati Trilogy, for readers of "Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles or Kenneth Oppel's Airborne" (Booklist).

After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and their father move into a ramshackle Victorian house they've inherited. When Nick opens the door to his attic room, he's hit in the head by a toaster. That's just the beginning of his weird experiences with the old junk stored up there. After getting rid of the odd antiques in a garage sale, Nick befriends some local kids–Mitch, Caitlin, and Vincent–and they discover that all of the objects have extraordinary properties. What's more, Nick figures out that the attic is a strange magnetic vortex, which attracts all sorts of trouble. It's as if the attic itself has an intelligence . . . and a purpose.

Ultimately Nick learns that the genius Nikola Tesla placed the items-his last inventions-in the attic as part of a larger plan that he mathematically predicted. Nick and his new friends must retrieve everything that was sold at the garage sale and keep it safe. But the task is fraught with peril-in addition to the dangers inherent in Tesla's mysterious and powerful creations, a secret society of physicists, the Accelerati, is determined to stop Nick and alter destiny to achieve its own devious ends. It's a lot for a guy to handle, especially when he'd much rather fly under the radar as the new kid in town.

Read more of the Accelerati Trilogy:
Edison's Alley
Hawking's Hallway

Genre:

Series:

The Accelerati Trilogy

“Lively, intelligent prose elevates this story of teenagers versus mad scientists, the third-person point of view offering a stage to various players in their play of galactic consequence. A wild tale in the spirit of Back to the Future, with a hint of Malamud's The Natural tossed in.”
Kirkus Reviews
“This collaboration between Shusterman and Elfman tempers the scarier elements of Nick's quest with deft, humorous writing and plenty of the ordinary adventures of a new kid in school finding his niche. Hand this one to fans of Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles or Kenneth Oppel's Airborne.”
Booklist
*“Shusterman and Elfman have crafted a plot more devious, characters far quirkier, climaxes (yes, there are two) more breathless, and a narration much, much funnier than recent mad-science offerings. Sticking with a third-person narration frees the authors to be as wryly and sophisticatedly witty as they please without compromising the veracity of their middle-school cast, resulting in storytelling as delightful as the story being told.”
Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books (starred review)
"With a dynamic mix of secret-society intrigue, quirky gadgetry, appealing teen characters, and humor, this series has the makings of a hit."
Horn Book
"The authors have fun with a large cast of characters (and the historical record), making for an exciting and imaginative thriller with some skillful twists."
Publishers Weekly

$6.99

$8.99 CAD

Format

Format:

By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Neal Shusterman

About the Author

Neal Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of over thirty books, including I Am the Walrus; Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award; Scythe, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; Dry, which he cowrote with his son, Jarrod Shusterman; and Unwind, which won more than thirty domestic and international awards. He invites you to visit him online at storyman.com.

Eric Elfman is a screenwriter and the author of several books for children and young adults, including I Am the Walrus; The Very Scary Almanac and Almanac of the Gross, Disgusting & Totally Repulsive (an ALA Recommended Book for Reluctant Readers); and coauthor of the popular Tesla’s Attic trilogy. He invites you to visit him on Twitter @Eric_Elfman.

Learn more about this author