Fun and fast paced! Our library has already purchased multiple copies = we can't keep it on the shelf.

When Olive is taken out of school as her parents embark on another business trip, she never imagines what awaits her. Olive does not like school, her appearance, her seeming invisibility to her parents, and she misses her grandmother who passed away. Most middle school kids have similar feelings at some time or another. Middle school kids will also appreciate the action and adventure of this novel. It would be fun if there are more in this series.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions here are my own.

If the best fiction taps into universal longings, it’s no wonder that middle grade novels often focus on protagonists who feel left out. Lisa Yee evokes this feeling with The Misfits #1: A Royal Conundrum, the first installment in a series focusing on Olive Cobin Zang and the other members of the Misfits, a secret group of young special agents.

Newbery Honor winner Yee teams up with Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat, and the result is a fun caper accentuated by Santat’s vivid illustrations. Olive, a Chinese American 12-year-old, knows that something is up when one day her InstaFriends account vanishes, along with all evidence of her presence at school. So when she’s called to the office and learns her mother (who travels constantly and doesn’t remember Olive’s birthday) is enrolling her at the Reforming Arts School of San Francisco (RASCH), Olive is not exactly surprised. Although she’s terrified that this might be a punishment—after all, RASCH used to be a prison—Olive won’t miss her old school. And because she feels invisible, she’s sure it won’t miss her either. The only person who would have missed her was her grandmother Mimi, but she’s been gone for months, though no one will tell Olive what happened: Her mother will only say, “She’s no longer with us.”

Once at RASCH, Olive feels instantly at home, a feeling that increases after she’s sorted into a pod of fellow outsiders. This team of kids brings unusual tech savvy and unique mental and physical talents (Olive’s Mimi was a circus performer who trained Olive on the trapeze) to their division of NOCK (“No One Can Know”), an elite force whose “mission includes ensuring the safety of the community, guarding the possessions of the citizens, and preventing civil disorder.” With their combined skills and immediate bond, the Misfits work together to uncover the mystery behind a string of jewel thefts and prevent their beloved RASCH from being closed by its patron, Dame Gloria. From mind-bending technology to sometimes hilarious hijinks, A Royal Conundrum has everything a young reader—especially one who feels invisible—could want.

This Misfits team up together to help solve a crime. I liked the mystery aspect of this book and trying to see if I was able to guess the suspect before the children did. I am not the intended audience but I still enjoyed it. My 10 year old niece would love this book and the little life lessons found inside.

Sign me up for the series whoever long it'll go on. With the partnership of writing with Lee and illustrations that dot the entire book by Santat, it's a combination made for middle grade. A secret society of misfit kids at a secret academy not operates kind of out in the open? Yes. Sounds right. Mix in cool characters, neat tech, friendship, and whimsy and you've got a winning combination of a light mystery that includes baking and cats.

Could a reader see the connections of Olive's family before the end? Sure, but that's not really what it was about. It was the journey, not the destination. Of course they'll solve the mystery and they'll do it in style. Entertaining for sure with a fantastic setting. Then you have the illustrations that are popped in at opportune times. It's just plain fun and we need more of this.

Dan Santat is a must-read author/illustrator for me, and The Misfits written by Lisa Yee and illustrated by Dan Santat did not disappoint. This a is excellent middle grades mystery enhanced by the wonderful art of Dan Santat. I eagerly look forward to the next in the series. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, the illustrator, and the publisher for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a great middle grade book with adventure and humor. It was an enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to more books from this series!

Such a fun, funky middle grade tale, sure to appeal to sleuth, mystery and superhero-loving middle schoolers! The Misfits represents a perfect melding of the voices and style of the kidlit royalty that is Lisa Yee and Dan Santat. What a combo! The series is destined to be devoured.

Olive feels invisible at her school. When she is called to the office one day, she is told she is withdrawing to go to a prestigious school in San Francisco. There, she is not quite invisible and finds a group of friends. Together, they learn how to help the police solve crimes and with a nasty jewel thief on the loose, they are ready to put their skills to work.
Opinion
This is an awesome book for young adolescents. There are all kinds of clues and red herrings peppered throughout the book to keep the reader on their toes. This book made me laugh and anticipate what was going to happen. (I did not pin the culprit but love how it turned out.) I would recommend this to any child who loves adventure books.
Many thanks to Net Galley and Random House Childrens for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I read the Misfits #1 and I only gave it a 3. It will appeal to fantasy lovers who like books similar to Mr. Lemoncello’s library: humor and other worldliness. The characters were interesting but superficial. The whole story is predictable with too many ribbons tied at the end. The drawings however are great and work well with the book.

This book reminded me of James Ponti's City Spies. I loved the story and the artwork. I highly recommend ordering it for your library or student.

Such a fun adventure! Boarding school, secret spy training, cool tech, and a jewel heist! Olive has never fit in at school, so she has pretty low expectations when her parents drop her off at a boarding school on an island off the coast of San Francisco. To her surprise, she tests into an elite group of "misfits" who are being trained to operate undercover. Their first mission is to jewel thief who has been targeting people all over San Francisco. This was a super fun read. Give it to fans of Stuart Gibbs's Spy School and James Ponti's City Spies. For grades 4 & up.

This middle grade novel was exactly what I would have loved as a kid. I would have ate it up and ate it up again. This is such a fun, quirky, little book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I can name a few kids who would absolutely love this book just as middle school me would have. This is such a fun read for kids looking to love reading again.

Four fabulous stars to The Misfits, written by Lisa Yee and illustrated by Dan Santat!
This story follows a diverse cast of characters who attend RASCH - a former prison turned "reforming arts school." These aren't just any students though! Olive and her classmates become secret agents who not only work together to solve a crime, but to prevent a crime as well!
You'll fall in love with these misfits - they are a quirky group who not only find themselves, but find family in each other!
I'm so thankful this is the first book in The Misfits series . . . I can't wait to see more from the dynamic duo of Lisa & Dan!

The characters are ALL characters in some way, (Misfits)!! shape, or form. There is a ton of humor but also a lot of heart and a focus on developing and maintaining friendships.

I received this book from the Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'd recommend this book. Thank you.

3.5 = Good +

A fun kid-spy story that reminded me a lot of the NERDS series by Michael Buckley. Kids who love this genre will find a lot of familiar beats here. Other themes are found family and friendship. There's a great cat component, too. I wasn't able to see the full illustrations in my review copy, but Dan Santat rarely disappoints. I expect the illustrations to add a lot to this story.

Olive has boring parents who can't be bothered to show an interest in her, and are constantly away on business trips. This time around, her grandmother isn't available to take care of her, so Olive is shipped off to boarding school, where she gets pulled into a secret spy team, and is trained to be a spy.

This is a juvenile fiction book, geared toward my son's age. In all honesty, I don't think he would ever manage to get to the interesting parts of the book. It took me over two months to read this. Two. Months. I was bored MOST of the time, and the interesting parts of the book only started about halfway through. There was so much build up at the beginning that by the time the story gets to the actually-going-on-missions section, it was a dragon of my mental energy to get into reading. My attention was not held, so I wouldn't expect that many kids would get that far onto it. The few illustrations that were completed in the version I read were decent, but I'll have to look at the end results to see what it actually all looked like.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

This was so much fun! A well-developed cast of characters. A fast-paced puzzle-rich adventure, helped along by the illustrations. Great for kids who love Mr. Lemoncello's Library and City Spies. .

Almost everyone can relate to feelings of not fitting in at different times in our lives, but Olive seems to be struggling fitting in anywhere at any time - with her parents, her school peers, and life in general now that her grandmother is no longer there. What most of us don’t realize in the moment is that what makes us not fit in is what makes us special. The magic of this book is not that the Misfits have special abilities, but that they learn from observing themselves and each other that it is because of their uniqueness that they can make a difference to others. This is a great thriller for younger middle-schoolers that explores how we humans not only survive but thrive through emotional ups and downs, a mixture of good and bad decisions on our own part and that of others, and the windy road of finding our path in the world.

Thank you to Random House Children's, Random House Books for Young Readers, Netgalley, and the author for early access to this fun and uplifting story.

The Misfits is the story of 5 kids who attend a gifted school. These kids are set apart by their teachers after a skills test shows that they can be a valuable asset to the secret organization.

Think SPYKIDS meets X-men without the superpowers.

The kids all have different skills, knowledge, and is each a misfit in their school.

I enjoyed the relationships they built with each other. They found their place in this team and they help each other be better.

I received this book from the Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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#MiddleGrade