Black Badge

Is spying a genre? Oh well, it's one now. The cover is definitely something that drew me in. I like how it's drawn but also it's super cool? There's tons of badges and the nosebleed? Excellent. But the art inside – I'm not an expert in drawing like at all, but the illustrations were a bit weird. Not like bad weird, just that the characters were drawn a bit weird. Didn't put me off wanting to read it, though.

My mother and I are always interested in reading news about the Girl Guides (she was a leader, my sister and I were part of it. It was really fun) and what they're doing. When I saw the book, I went ‘yeah, that's something I want' and clicked request and luckily they approved me!!

I love kids doing things normally done by adults – spying, fighting, being badasses. I believe this is the first book in the series of what I'm hoping will be more; but it did feel like they just dropped the reader into the middle of a case and let the reader piece together the story. These kids are young and they're ferocious but I still want to protect them? Like sure, give them weapons and send them off to various places for cases; but also give them a blanket and some snacks so they can sleep, please.

I like that there's different types of teams and they're all expert in different things and that's definitely something I'd want to see in later volumes. Another thing I think the writers did amazing work on was the camp and the map that was added in. Carcass disposal? Tactical jump scares? I found the badges to be amazing – crime scene cleaning, shark attack? Where are the issues where a scout would try to receive one of those badges?

I'm going to be honest here, I don't remember the plot at all. Obviously they were on a mission. I vaguely remember they sort of go rogue? Or maybe they don't. That's it. I remember the characters more but that's about it.

Do I recommend it?

It's a fun, easy-to-read book. If you want an adventure with kids who know what's what, this book is a good one.