Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Secret of Zoom
    Unavailable
    The Secret of Zoom
    Unavailable
    The Secret of Zoom
    Ebook287 pages4 hours

    The Secret of Zoom

    By Lynne Jonell

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Can two friends foil a dastardly plan and save orphans from a fate worse than death?

    Christina lives in a big, old stone mansion on the edge of a dark forest surrounded by barbed wire. Deep within the forest is the laboratory where her father works—and where her mother was blown to bits years ago. Christina's father knows just how dangerous the world can be, so he keeps her safe at home, forbidding her from talking to the very interesting orphans down the road.

    But when an orphan boy named Taft talks to her, she's thrilled to help him search for a secret tunnel. But soon she discovers there's more to the orphanage, the lab, and the mystery of her mother's accident than she ever suspected. Sinister things are in the works—and the secret of zoom is the most dangerous secret of all!

    “This exciting tale, with just a touch of fantasy and humor, is a winner. … Jonell displays pitch-perfect skills in an expertly crafted story that never flags and that includes plenty of heart-stopping situations to keep readers fully engaged.” —School Library Journal, Starred Review

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateSep 1, 2009
    ISBN9781429951531
    Unavailable
    The Secret of Zoom
    Author

    Lynne Jonell

    Lynne Jonell is the author of the novels Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls, and The Secret of Zoom, as well as several critically acclaimed picture books. Her books have been named Junior Library Guild Selections and a Smithsonian Notable Book, among numerous other honors. Born in Little Falls, Minnesota, Jonell grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis. She now teaches writing at the Loft Literary Center and lives with her husband and two sons in Plymouth, Minnesota, in a house on a hill.

    Related to The Secret of Zoom

    Related ebooks

    Children's Action & Adventure For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Magma Hammer Strikes

      Oct 1, 2023

      The Magma Hammer Strikes
      5 min read

    • Article

      Muse Mail

      Oct 1, 2023

      Muse Mail
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Wind-tossed Spell

      Jan 1, 2019

      A Wind-tossed Spell
      8 min read

    • Article

      Keeping It In THE FAMILY

      Jun 15, 2022

      Keeping It In THE FAMILY
      5 min read

    • Article

      Caitlin Colleary

      Nov 1, 2021

      Caitlin Colleary
      3 min read

    • Article

      Forfeit

      Jan 1, 2021

      Forfeit
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Legend of Bottle Hill

      Mar 1, 2023

      The Legend of Bottle Hill
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Letter Box

      Nov 1, 2022

      Hello, Everybuggy, I’m a first-time writer to the Letterbox, but I’ve been reading Cricket for about two years now. I am absolutely obsessed with books, and my favorite series are Keeper of the Lost Cities, Wings of Fire, Michael Vey, The Lunar Chron

      7 min read

    • Article

      Prying Apart Colors

      Nov 1, 2021

      Prying Apart Colors
      3 min read

    • Article

      Totally EMBARRASSING

      Jul 11, 2021

      We were doing art in class and we were allowed to listen to our own music with our headphones. I was listening to an old Harry Styles song. I was getting so into the music, I started singing it. Each second, I got louder and louder until I was yellin

      2 min read

    • Article

      Favorite First Sentences

      Sep 1, 2021

      Favorite First Sentences
      1 min read

    • Article

      To Save Arrhinsal

      Sep 1, 2021

      TOLIN CRAWLED FORWARD, staying alert. All around, the dense, wiry thickets of the hedge were strangely silent. That usually meant danger, when the green tangle of thorns should be cheery with the songs of finches, the dusky clucking of hedge hens. On

      8 min read

    • Article

      Lol!

      Oct 7, 2021

      Lol!
      1 min read

    • Article

      Old Cricket Says

      Apr 1, 2022

      SOME OF MY dearest friends are crows. Yes, I know that farmers don’t like crows and get mad at them for pulling up tender corn shoots. On the other hand, during one season on an average farm, crows gobble up some nineteen bushels of harmful insects.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Welcome to SWEDEN

      Sep 1, 2022

      Welcome to SWEDEN
      3 min read

    • Article

      Do You (really) See Red?

      Nov 1, 2021

      Do You (really) See Red?
      3 min read

    • Article

      Whoa! How Embarrassing!

      Oct 3, 2019

      Whoa! How Embarrassing!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Whoa! How Embarrassing!

      Sep 6, 2023

      I was out having lunch with my older brother and two of his friends. One of them is very cute and I always get a bit shy when he’s around. I was trying not to make a mess while I ate, but when I took a bite out of my burger the whole thing fell apart

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Secret of Zoom

    3.5/5

    7 ratings6 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The ultimate child's fantasy: When adults are villainous, greedy, incompetent or otherwise useless, it's the kids who set the world right. Christina, who's been overly protected by her scientist father (she's never left the grounds of her home), leads a troop of abused and neglected orphans who have been forced to mine a lucrative energy substance called zoom. The story is quick-paced and engaging and almost every chapter ends in a cliff-hanger. A great book for gifted readers, reluctant readers, and fans of orphan-exploitation fiction. (Lemony Snicket, anyone?)
    • 5/5
      I liked this better than Emmy. Lots of action, good characters, funny lines. This would make a great movie!
    • 4/5
      It was super fun for a J book. Up for a local Missouri award so I had to check it out.  
    • 3/5
      Christina is isolated in a huge mansion on the edge of the forest with her math-crazed father and Cook and Nanny for company. Longing for companionship she befriends orphan Taft, and begins a mysterious journey through the tunnel they discover into the woods. Together they fight villainous Lenny Loompski to take back their town and the many orphans held as “slaves” to mine the mysterious “zoom” energy source. Good finally prevails, with some twists and turns, in a very unique story using “perfect pitch” and song as the catalyst for a new cheap energy. Written in the vain of “Lemony Snickett” with outrageous plot lines (fantasy-like) and character development, and a fairly predictable ending.
    • 4/5
      Another story with an villain using kids (orphans, no less!) to getfame and riches, but this is well-written, entertaining, and creative. Christina is notan orphan, but her father is a scientist working for the evil Lenny Loompski. Hermother mysteriously died in an explosion long ago. Her father makes sure shekeeps well out of Lenny's way by keeping her out of school and away from otherkids, but her loneliness leads her to secretly make friends with an orphan and beginto understand what is really going on. Turns out that Christina and Taft, her friend,are the only ones who can stop Lenny and save the other orphans.
    • 4/5
      This was a very cute and humorous read. I thought it was a charming book; it reminds of many other books that involve child geniuses dealing with distant parents (Artemis Fowl, A Taste of Red, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and Theodosia).Christina lives in a old house on the border of a forest that is home to a secret lab that her father works at. Her father tries to be a good dad but is more concerned with mathematics and seclusion of his daughter (for her safety) than Christina's experience with the outside world. Christina's mother was "blown to bits" in her laboratory and her father has become overprotective since these events. Christina wants nothing more than to escape and find the secret tunnel that leads into the forest. With the help of an orphan boy she does. Then she finds out that nothing that is happening in her family or town is quite as it seems.This was a fun book. It had me laughing out loud a number of times. It was a quick read, the was fast paced and really drew you through the book. The characters were likable; even Christina's father is easy to identify with and understand. The plot itself it fairly predictable but this doesn't detract from a good story. Some of the ideas, mainly song and pitch being used to power things, are very creative and interesting to read about.As far as the age-group for this book, I think it could be read to younger children. There are some scarier parts but nothing too horrible.I don't have any major complaints. The story is pretty focused on a small series of events; so no huge attention to world-building. The real strengths are in characterization and writing a good mystery/adventure.Overall a good read. I liked the humor throughout and enjoyed the story.