Take Down

by Jacqueline Harvey

After winning the National STEM Championships, Kensy, Max and a team of students from Central London Free School are ready to compete for the international trophy in Singapore. But when Granny Cordelia is poisoned, the twins no longer feel like celebrating.

They still have a duty to their team though, and everyone seems to think they’ll be safe in a country halfway around the world. It turns out that Singapore is rife with mysteries. Soon Kensy and Max have uncovered a much larger case than anyone counted on. And this time, it’s personal.

384 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Jacqueline Harvey has combined a successful career in education with her love of a good story. She is the author of many novels for younger readers and a picture book, THE SOUND OF THE SEA, which was awarded Honour Book in the 2006 Australian Children’s Book Council Awards.

Jacqueline taught in Infants and Primary schools and was Deputy Head of Abbotsleigh Junior School (an independent day and boarding school for girls) in Sydney Australia for seven and a half years before taking up the position of Director of Development at Abbotsleigh in 2010. In October 2012 she resigned to become a full time writer and speaker.

Jacqueline’s bestselling Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose series’ centre on the adventures of two young girls.

Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones is a perpetually positive and determined seven year old who takes herself off to boarding school because it appeals to her sense of adventure.

Clementine Rose is a sweet little girl, who brings much joy to her family and the friends she makes along the way in her journeys through the first five books of the series. A star of the show is Clementine Rose’s pet, an adorable teacup pig called Lavender.

Her newest series is called Kensy and Max about twins who learn that their grandmother is head of the world's most important spy organisation, Pharos.

Current Books in the Series’
Clementine Rose and the Seaside Escape April 1, 2014 Shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) 2015

Alice-Miranda In Japan March 1, 2014 Shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) 2015

Alice-Miranda Shines Bright September 1, 2013
Selected for the 2013 Get Reading Program (50 Books You Can’t Put down)

Clementine Rose and the Perfect Present May 1, 2013

Clementine Rose and the Farm Fiasco August 1, 2013

Alice-Miranda In Paris March 1, 2013
Shortlisted 2014 Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year 8-14 years category
Shortlisted 2014 REAL awards which are the Children’s’ Choice awards KOALA’s in NSW, YABBA’s in Victoria and COOL in the ACT.

Clementine Rose and the Pet Day Disaster January 1, 2012

Alice-Miranda in New York February 1, 2012
Winner Random House Australia Children’s Book of the Year

Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor September 1, 2012
Selected for the 2012 Get Reading Program (50 Books You Can't Put Down)
Voted #50 Dymocks Top 51 Kid’s Books 2013

Alice-Miranda Shows the Way August 1, 2012
Shortlisted for 2013 REAL awards which are the Children’s’ Choice awards KOALA’s in NSW, YABBA’s in Victoria and COOL in the ACT
Awarded Honour Book KOALA awards

Alice-Miranda At Sea August 1, 2012
Longlisted for DAVITT awards (Crime fiction in Junior Category) 2012

Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead February 1, 2011
Named Australian Children's Book of the Year 2011 as voted by the members of the NSW Independent Booksellers Group.


Alice-Miranda On Holiday August 1, 2010

Alice-Miranda at School February 1, 2010
Voted #9 Dymocks Top 51 Books for Kids 2013
Winner 2012 YABBA (Young Australian's Best Book Award in Victoria)
Awarded Honour Book KOALAs
Shortlisted for 2012 REAL awards which are the Children’s Choice Awards – KOALA’s in NSW, YABBA’s in Victoria, WAYRBA in Western Australia and COOL in the ACT
Shortlisted for the 2011 Australian Peace Award.

Kensy and Max: Breaking News March 2018 Shortlisted for Red Dot Book Awards Singapore 2020, YABBA, KOALA and KROC Children's Choice Awards Victoria, NSW and NT 202, Shortlisted West Australian Young Readers' Book Awards 2020

Reviews

[Brydie Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the exotic Singaporean setting and travelogue, as backdrop to the World STEM championships - a great ode to smart kids who are good at science. Full Speed was a tough act to follow, so the contrast of settings and storyline were a good strategy from Ms Harvey, as we discovered Kensy and Max can basically out-spy the adults in any setting or climate. This one was very Entrapment-esque with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones, in a child-friendly way, of course.

[laaibahhh :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG this brought me back to my roots :) AHHH i still love the characters sm and the plot and the coded chapter titles <3333 i've wanted to continue reading kensy and max for sooo long but i could never find it in the library :( i randomly borrowed this bc i desperately needed to read something fun during exam szn :) also, it's SO COOL that this book is set in SG ABFHEFFH there's literally no books that take place in SG so i was so happy to be able to recognise the places and imagine the routes they took to go to different places :D anyways, this was one of the books that started my interest in espionage and i still adore this series with my whole heartttt <3 also, OMG max & autumn better end up together someday; they're SO CUTE AHDSAD KENSY AND MAX WILL FOREVER BE ICONIC

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Kensy and Max book. There were some great unexpected twists that kept me guessing the whole way through. Fun fast paced action sequences made the book hard to put down.

[Kaylyn Crump · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kensy and Max live in London. Their Grandma Cordelia Spencer got poisoned. They give her a cure for it but she’s in a coma. Kensy and Max to Singapore to compete in the National STEAM Championships. Singapore is supposed to be the safest place on earth. But, while they are there, they find out that people have been stealing animals from the zoo. They try to figure out who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. Kensy and Max recover the bad woman’s handbag with stollen stuff in it, but then everyone sees the woman take Kensy. The bad lady wants stuff in exchange for Kensy, but they refuse to give it to her. In the end, Mac gets Kensy back without giving the woman what she wants.

The best part of the book is in the end when their whole class gets to go on the water slide. I give this a thousand star recommendation!

Kaylyn (9 years old)

[Abby Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each book is better written than the last, which has been enjoyable to observe. This book tied up a lot of loose ends but left an opening for more books in the series. I really enjoyed reading these with my niece.

[Laura Feldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my faves. I really enjoyed the setting in this book.