The Secret of Stoneship Woods

Spy Gear Adventures #1

by Rick Barba

Team Spy Gear is born...

Jake and Lucas Bixby and their friends Cyril and Lexi are ordinary kids living in the typical suburban community of Carrolton. Nothing ever seems to happen in their town -- parents work, and kids go to school, play computer games, and hang out. Normal. Utterly normal.

Until the kids discover an abandoned warehouse smack in the middle of Stoneship Woods. Weird. And it's filled with high-tech surveillance equipment and tons of cool spy gadgets. Now it's really weird.

They're about to open a big fat can of worms.

And about to have the time of their lives.

Genres: Science Fiction, Childrens, Mystery

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Marion Norindale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whatever you’re doing, stop it right the hell now and go and find these books.

I don’t even know if they’re still in print anymore—which could be considered a crime against humanity. No one will probably ever reach the same pinnacle of literary achievement again as Rick Barba.

The plot is batshit insane—but it doesn’t even matter, because this story will entertain the living hell out of you. I read these as a kid, and I don’t even remember what was going on. There were video games, aliens, and possibly even a Venom cameo—but who the hell cares, when the jokes slapped so damn hard?

Seriously, some of the fondest times I spent as a young’un was curled up with these books. The characters will charm you, the plot will rattle you along like a roller coaster—and the humor transcends time and space.

If you ever find yourself in the general vicinity of these books, just know that you’re basking in a greatness you may never get to witness again.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and this series. The first time I read this book I almost quit halfway through, but I wanted to know what happened and how it ended, so I decided to finish it that one time figuring that I would never read it again. By the time I finished it, I had changed my mind. Not only did I love it, I was now hooked and couldn't wait to get my hands on the next book. I have since become addicted to this series. I also decided the author must be smuggling the manuscripts out of his insane asylum. They are crazy, but extremely fun. I have read this book several times before and I will definitely read it again in the future.

[Jack Roche]

We're getting into the deep cuts here. Don't even remember how many of these I read. I remember these had a very specific sense of humor, a lot of tongue in cheek hyperbole, that mostly confused me. They were also pretty silly.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

kind of aimed at kids, but it was good.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it to my boys for a bedtime story--maybe they were too young to care (7 & 3), but I'd say it was just ok.

[Crystal M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goofy and outlandish! I read it in four days. I remember reading this in fifth grade and laughing sooo hard

[Dreamergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spy Gear was a very nice novel and at the beginning the concept that the author took was entertaining but as the story line moved on, it got a little annoying and child-lish like. More action would have been necessery because I was a little disappointed when I read it to the end that I was flipping the pages to see if I had any pages missing :) The ending was a little sudden also and didn't really make me want to read the next book of the series, though I must say it was a clever thing to do. The characters were okay but not as good as I would have liked (though I know this isn't a YA book, I would have liked to see more development, the author just picked me up and put me in their world without even explaining or describing anything that much) but even though, they were interesting, especially Lezi which was the best developed of the four. The writing was a bit too simple in the next half of the book and I kind of didn't like that there wasn't any real description given of anything, especially when they first go to StoneShip Woods and the abandoned spy warehouse. Here is my review:

Jake-13, his brother Lukas-11, Cyril-13, and Lezi-11 are four inseperable best friends. But when one day they find a warehouse in the woods nobody has ever dared to step a foot in, they get inside a dangerous game in the real world, and a mystery that will remain with them forever as they become a team, Team Spy Gear.

The best part of the book I must say is when they were going through the "Farmer's" backyard, that was kind of exciting! I liked the simplicity of how the author didn't complicate the plot too much... I would recommend to girls and boys in grade school, a really fun novel! I couldn't wait to see the plot unfold! Good cover by the way!

Interest level: Low
Reading level: Easy

[Elizabeth S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really 2 1/2 stars. The premise is quite promising--four 11-13 year olds discover an old warehouse filled with way-cool spy gear and they form Team Spy Gear. At first I thought I'd love the book, because it was so silly. I belong to a very silly family, and we all enjoy being silly. But by the end it was too silly, even for me. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I laughed out loud because of how ridiculous the situation was. (For example, the author talked to the characters a couple times, telling them to "Watch Out!" just like someone yelling at the screen in a movie theater.) But it is kinda like a diet of only chocolate. At first it sounds great, but after a couple of days you want something else. Silly is great, but there wasn't any clever plotting or character development or well-planned mystery to balance the diet.

[Pink · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t care what anyone says. Forget War and Peace. Forget the Odyssey. Forget even The Lord of the Rings, though it pains me to say it. This book is one of six of the best books of all time: the other five are the other books of this series. I cannot say enough how much I adore these books. The characters are iconic, relatable, and indescribable because they’re so gosh darn strange. The humor is top notch. The footnotes get me every time. Superior to David Foster Wallace. The villain is one of my favorite character. Please don’t judge me. Rick Barba is a genius. He could have just slapped something together since this was probably just Toy Planet’s attempt to reach a wider audience, but Barba went hard. I want to be him when I grow up, even if it means I have to write video game manuals to get there. And I don’t even play video games.

[Dakota T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, you can tell I like books that let kids do super human feats and spy stuff. There is an element of this book that could be real which make you feel like you just might be able to do this stuff. But not really. Friendship plays a big part in this book. Jake leads his friends to create the spygear team.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was younger. But, still enjoy it. Lol reading level is very low. Quick and easy read but the story is simple enjoyable and worth reading to me. Enjoyable is all I really wish in a book. So thank you Rick Barba. You are the man! :)

[Collin · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is about kids who stumble on to spy stuff.

[Herleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how childish it is!

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and entertaining, yet hair-raising. The interactive narrating is like a fun version of Lemony Snicket.

[Andréa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The intrusive narrator is annoying, and the basic premise is even less believable than most of the MG and YA spy books.

[Andrew Hawkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book had a great time reading it . It is a mystery very suspenseful . The thing is it is very short .

[mads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was really boring. Suspenseful at some parts, but incredibly boring for the rest. I would definitely not recommend this book.