The Jamie Drake Equation

"The Jamie Drake Equation" has the feel of a 90s family movie to it, not that that's a bad thing. It focuses on 6th grader Jamie Drake, who has enough to deal with already -- his father is away on a space mission and will miss his birthday, and he can't get any peace and quiet at home with his death-metal playing grandfather jamming out at home. It only seems to complicate matters when Jamie runs into an eccentric astronomer, accidentally downloading what appears to be an alien signal from her laptop. The sci-fi elements are where this book really shines; the alien intelligence is interesting and original, and I've always loved psychic communication in stories. Edge incorporates a lot of real-world science and math, which I think kids will find interesting. This will be many readers' introduction to things like the Fibonacci sequence, and he does a good job of explaining. Jamie's an ok character; he's funny, but comes off as a bit younger than his age to me. I did want more interaction with the mom and the dad toward the middle of the book. There's a reveal that to me, an adult reader, was pretty predictable, but I thought it could've been effective if I'd seen more of Jamie's relationship with his family. Instead, it felt a little formulaic, like it's there because the author thought that's what goes in this kind of story. However, the final conflict of the book makes up for this, as the characters' reactions show the strength of their family bond. I did find the ending a little too fantastic for the books overall sense of realism (though some beautiful scenes do come out of it). If I have any other complaints, it's that certain characters highlighted early on turn out to be not very important, or are only important for one scene. I got the impression that overall, Edge was more invested in the sci-fi elements here than in the characters. Normally, that totally kills my interest in a book, but here, the concepts were interesting enough to keep me entertained. Kids should find plenty to enjoy here.

This story is told by a little boy name Jamie - he is a young school going boy who has a sister - as he refers his mom saying that perfect family size is 4. Jamie's Dad is going to space and everyone is talking about it - at his school, in the news and finally dad goes to space, all is not well and Jamie somehow has found a way to communicate with Aliens (is it ?) read on - do not want to give our spoilers her - nice story book seems like the ones that used to come out in the 70s

Jamie Drake has an awesome father who is an astronaut. Part of Jamie wishes they had a normal family life, but he is really proud of what his dad does. While he is on the International Space Station, Jamie gets a message from what seems to be alien life. He decides to investigate like his dad would do, but when there is a problem with his dad's mission, Jamie uses his new connection to save the day. I found this book to be fun and engaging. The action moved at a quick pace and I was kept guessing throughout most of the story. Jamie is a good character and maturely tackles the dangers of space travel. In general, this is a science fiction story and has several opportunities to show readers real world applications of math and science. It's geared toward 9 to 12 year olds and I think that is a great target for this novel, especially for sci-fi fans. My kids read it and found it to be quick, easy to get through and enjoyable.

My 12 year old 7th grader is an avid reader. Here is her review: --- "Jamie's dad is an astronaut, about to embark on a great mission. As Jamie thinks of it, his dad and mom are the suns of the family's solar system, with him and his sisters as planets in the Goldilock's zone. They all need each other. And life is perfect. One day, Jamie's dad mentions an old observatory he went to in his youth. When Jamie gets there, he is "captured" by a scientist who now works in what used to be the observatory. While there, Jamie accidentally downloads information from a satellite into his phone After that, he has weird experiences from the new, undeletable app. Is the app he downloaded on his phone connecting him with aliens? Find out in this cool book! I enjoyed reading this sci-fi story. It kept me guessing, and reading, and I finished it in a day! My favorite character was probably Jamie, because he was relatable. If I could change one thing about the book, it would be to add more details to the other characters, as it seemed only to revolve around Jamie, and didn't really develop anyone else."

Jamie Drake's dad is an astronaut, about to go on another space mission. Life seems to revolve around Jamie's dad and he's ready for his dad to be done with his work for a while so the family can be together again, even if his parents don't seem that happily married anymore. When Jamie meets an astronomer who is working on a now-closed observatory, he manages to download an app to his phone from her computer. This app somehow seems to allow him to communicate with an alien from another planet. And when Jamie's dad gets stuck in space, unable to return home, Jamie turns to the alien to help him. This novel is a lot of fun. It is fast paced, and interesting. Edge does include scientific information in this book that is easy to read and understand. This book is definitely sci-fi and readers will have to be ready to use their imagination. I loved Jamie and wished we could have seen more character development with the other characters in this story. This is a great novel for tween readers.