Red Devil Down

Battle Boy #2

by Charlie Carter

The first two titles in a gripping, dramatic and completely engrossing new series – designed to engage reluctant readers (high interest, low-level reading), and anyone interested in battles, history, time travel, adventure, great stories, gadgets galore...

(CLASSIFIED) MISSION 2: RED DEVIL DOWN
- France, 1918, a field near the Somme River
- Mission objective: Discover who shot down the World War One flying ace: Baron von Richthofen – the Red Baron

OPERATIVE PROFILE:
Code name: Battle Boy 005 (BB005)
Real name: Napoleon Augustus Smythe
Age: 11 years old
Assignment: Operation Battle Book
Controller: Professor Perdu
Duty: To operate as a Human Data-Collecting Device (HD-CD)
Survival gear: SimulSkin (high-tech, skin-coloured body armour)
Mission motto: Spying on the past

89 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little story here, the second in the Battle Boy series and basically the story is who shot down the Red Barron. An interesting time travel idea of solving mysteries and there is a lot of potential for the series, the only quibble is the stories are quite brief and could have been expanded to a longer and more detailed look at the historical events as well as adding more colour and dimensions to the characters and plot.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

No. 2 is 'Red Devil Down', about WWI and the shooting down of Baron Von Richthofen, the infamous Red Baron. It is also a terrific read. The Battle Boy series is fantastic for young readers who have enjoyed the 'Zac Power' series and want to move on. This too is a spy series with a young protagonist, who time travels into historic battles with 'gadgets galore...'. To quote: "(CLASSIFIED) MISSION 1: OPEN FIRE- Spain, 1587, Sir Francis Drake's ship - Mission objective: collect Drake's DNA for the Warrior Gene Bank. OPERATIVE PROFILE: Code name: Battle Boy 005 (BB005)Real name: Napoleon Augustus SmytheAge: 11 years old Assignment: Operation Battle BookController: Professor PerduDuty: To operate as a Human Data-Collecting Device (HD-CD)Survival gear: SimulSkin (high-tech, skin-coloured body armour)Mission motto: Spying on the past. Since writing this review, I've now read several others of the series, and they are all great - punchy, fast-paced, great historical facts.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aimed at young boys who are new to chapter books, this series follows 'Battle Boy' (Napoleon Augustus Smythe) on his dangerous adventures through history. It is his visits to the history section of his local library that send him on these missions into the past, and his first hand encounters bring the historical times and places to life. It's a great idea and works fairly well, though I didn't find the stories as engaging as they might have been.

[Tanderton · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a complete waste of a time wouldn't recommend it to anyone in this classroom. I don't want to read it again

[BibleBoy]

Battle Boy has one mission: who shot down the Red Barron?