KIRKUS -- In this seventh installment, the sleuths
from Griswold's Grammar School unravel yet another case involving a mysterious
portal and a time-bending troublemaker. Once again, the six young British
gumshoes find themselves in the midst of something both puzzling and strange. As
puberty looms, the group-three girls and three boys-has become divided along
gender lines. The girls begin to watch an unusual student who is always-and
somewhat anachronistically-rambling on about communists, while the boys start
investigating a malevolent trio of classmates. With the discovery of a wormhole
in their science lab and the changing of recent events, the group must converge
and figure out a way to stop the time-traveling wrongdoers from rewriting
history. As Allison's series has progressed, the characters have aged with it,
bringing increasing complexity to each case but maintaining its whimsy and never
taking itself too seriously. Like its predecessors, this volume relates a
complete case and works well as a stand-alone, though it has enough quiet
in-jokes to reward devoted followers. Allison's attention to detail in his
characters is playful, with an especially keen eye to his protagonists' stylish
sartorial choices. However, those seeking diversity may be happier elsewhere;
his mainstays are nearly all white, save for one who is black. A delightfully
quirky series whose eccentric charms haven't faltered. <i>(Graphic
mystery/fantasy. 10-14)</i><br /><br /><br />