This YA adaptation of what the New York Times calls a "brainy thriller" has all the excitement of the adult edition, which I read years ago and loved, but had mostly forgotten. Dan Brown brings the reader immediately into the action, where a Louvre curator rips a painting off the wall to bring down the security gate that might save him. He is, however, shot by an assassin, and in the 20 minutes it takes him to die, is able to leave a coded treasure hunt for his granddaughter and Harvard professor Robert Langdon to unravel. The book's short chapters are the perfect way to keep readers on the edge of their seats as secret after secret is revealed. The book spares none of the intrigue or the sometimes confusing plot that sees two secret societies battling it out over a secret that could bring down western society (or at least bring down the Catholic church, or so they say). There is so much art and culture and historical context in this book--I hope that bright kids will find it to be an introduction to a whole world of thrillers and action books, or maybe even religion and art history. The Da Vinci Code is like nothing else found in YA literature. It definitely belongs in middle and high school libraries. (For those who remember the steamy pagan ritual from the original, it is included in the book but the details are glossed over to the point that readers might not quite understand what made Sophia distance herself from her grandfather for ten long years. I'm discussing this book with 8th graders next week--I'm anxious to see what their take is on that and on the book as a whole.)
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