I, Q: Independence Hall by Roland Smith is book one in a six book series. It is an action/adventure/spy thriller that would be enjoyed especially by tweens; however, with a thirteen-yea- old male protagonist and a fifteen-year-old female protagonist, this book will have a strong older audience reach and good male-female reader appeal, too. This book is primarily told from the first person of Q (short for Quest).  It has plenty of intrigue, characters with unclear motives and alliances, and action.  Think Jason Borne for young readers.  The main characters are both resourceful and likeable.  This is a fun, fast read, but have the next book in the series handy because it doesn’t end on the final page, but rather pauses and sets up for the next round of action.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  1 religious exclamation.

Violence/Gore:  Report parent killed by bomb; report of bomb death; report that someone was beaten, tortured, and is dead; report that a character was stabbed, bleeding, and died; car rams another car resulting in injury, bleeding, “half of left ear was missing”, hitting a character with a vehicle; vehicle chase; character uses martial arts to injure other characters; report of a character attacking a boat with a baseball bat; undetailed report of death; report of being rendered unconscious; character is “tempted” to stick a knife in someone’s thigh; teenage character held at knife point by an adult and is cut on neck to draw blood; verbal threats to harm/kill.

Sex/Nudity: None

Mature Subject Matter:

Death of a parent, remarriage, treason, lying, terrorist activity, espionage.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None