Trackers by Patrick Carman

I have a few things to do over this Winter Break. The most pressing on the list is getting more sleep. Weeks of 5-7 hours of sleep (I'm up early on Sat/Sun for runs) grinds away at you, so sleep is number one.

I'm also planning some curriculum mapping. I want to look at the next few months and check over what units/content pieces I am going to be using, and which standards I'll hit. But the last big thing is reading. I've sworn off adult books, and only read blogs, professional development books, or kids books.

Last night I purchased a ton of books (list on previous post). I plowed through Trackers by Patrick Carman, reading off and on for 5 hours. If you read it in one sitting (and aren't easily distractable) it should take about 2-3 hours. Really light, but very engaging.

Trackers is about a 14 year old named Adam Henderson who gets into computers at an early age. His dad owns a repair shop, and Adam is allowed to run free on the hardware/software, getting to a point where he becomes a hacker or digital entrepreneur. Ultimately he makes gadgets and software that are very advanced, and is most intrigued by surveillance. He meets one of the other trackers, Finn, by chance in downtown Seattle. After that he meets the other 2 (Emily and Lewis). Long story short, they do a field test of some hardware/software and find out they are being watched. The person who watched them wanted Adam to find out, leading them through this puzzle or maze of clues that put you on the edge of your seat. How do they know Adam? How have they been watching? What do they want?

What is probably most fascinating about this book is its use of technology. It is definitely centered around computers and gadgets, sucking you in (at least if you like computers etc... which I do). But it also has spots at the end of sections where you can go to the appendix to read a transcript of a video... or you can go to the Trackers Interface online to watch the video that the appendix transcribed. The videos were well done too, which adds to the allure of the book. I watched 2 of the videos, and skipped the rest as I wanted to keep reading.

This book was the first in a series, which I am sure will become well read in my classroom. It seemed to be really similar to the 39 Clues (or at least what I've heard about the 39 Clues!). Next up: The Jaguar Stones