When Olive is called to the school office while in class, her heart begins to race. Has something terrible happened?

Her mother is waiting for her, and tells Olive she is leaving the school. This is one part wonderful and two parts scary. She can leave the place where she has never fitted in and never found a friend. But where is she going to go and why?

Olive’s parents are away on business a lot, but Olive didn’t used to mind. Ever since she was small, whenever they packed their suitcases, she would look forward to her beloved grandmother (Mimi) coming to stay with her. They would eat forbidden foods and have a wonderful time together. Olive learnt gymnastic tumbles, twists and turns with Mimi and when she was 7 she began to learn the trapeze too. This helped Olive’s confidence, trust in others and herself, and she excelled at it.

This time however, her parents will be gone for months and Mimi isn’t here any more to look after her. Olive is to go to a new school where she can board until her parents return.

But this isn’t just any school. It is called RASCH – A reforming arts school. It used to be a prison for young offenders and is housed in an old mansion. At first, Olive is wary of the other students and strange teachers. Her heart is yearning for it to be somewhere she can finally fit in and find friends, but she doesn’t want to be open to hurt or indifference like the past, and feels she is still wearing the label – Misfit.

She is more than surprised to find there are others like her at RASCH. Misfits like her who might read books obsessively, love working on gadgets or on computers. These nerds, geeks and misfits are soon her friends just as she’d hoped, and she can barely believe that they have been chosen to be trained as members of a secret group called NOCK (No One Can Know).

This group of middle graders (Intermediate/NZ) are tested in different ways and missions before the most important one of all. Saving RASCH from being closed down.

This mission involves all the things Olive’s grandmother taught her. Trust, gymnastic abilities, and confidence in herself. It also involves gadgets, stolen jewels, hand to hand combat, and lots and lots of cats.

I must admit, it was Dan Santat’s cover that drew me to this first book in this series. But it wasn’t long before quirky Olive and even quirkier RASCH had me keen to read more. The main characters and members of Olive’s NOCK squad are all different in their own way, and the gadgets produced are 007 level.

The mystery of a international jewel thief’s identity takes you all the way to the end of the book on a wave of action, intrigue, a little disappointment (keeping things real), and a few twists and turns keeping things interesting.

This is a fun middle-grade read with more books promised in the series.

Author – Lisa Yee

Illustrator – Dan Santat

Age – 8+

(2024, Penguin Random House, Crime, Action, Adventure, Friendship, Mystery, Series, Secret, School, Humour, Family, Gymnastics, Jewel Thief, Thieves, Betrayal, Arts, Acting, Gadgets, Grandmother, Trapeze, Courage, Cats, Teamwork, Catch the bad guys)