Ben, Zara, Sam and Marcia return with six of their Professor friends in this sequel to 7 Professors of the Far North (2005). This time, they are helping Amy McAirdrie build an electric plane when they draw the notice of a secret, international, paramilitary organization. The Leader of Noctarma believes the kids and Professors have uncovered the long-lost secret of anti-gravity. They haven't; but once our heroes hear of it, they know they must keep it from the clutches of villains like Noctarma. The race is on to find the real silver turtle. The kids succeed with a little adult help, and the world is safe again. Unfortunately, there's no depth to the characters here. The children, save details of their pasts, are interchangeable as are the Professors. However, the action is swift, and the James Bondian gadgets abound. If spy adventure readers don't mind a little coincidence-driven plot, they will be in heaven. Fans of the first will definitely want this one, and will hope for future escapades. (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 4-6-Having survived the machinations of an evil genius in The 7 Professors of the Far North (Putnam, 2005), the same kids and their professorial guardians are involved in a new adventure. This time, they have joined up with a novice airplane enthusiast, Amy McAirdrie. When Professors Sharpe and Ampersand and their wards Ben, Zara, Sam, and Marcia decide to help her with the plane's construction, they have no idea that their every move is being watched. A shadowy organization known as Noctarma is eyeing the airplane very closely. When a series of misunderstandings leads to the kids running, or rather flying, for their lives, they find themselves in a race to discover the secret of antigravity before the bad guys do. Escaping from Noctarma's clutches repeatedly, the plucky children must elude capture and figure out whom to trust before it's too late. The writing is consistently upbeat and energetic even if it bogs down a little during the airplane passages. Fans of Fardell's previous book will enjoy following the characters and their wacky high-speed adventures. New readers, on the other hand, will have a difficult time sorting out the large cast of characters and their backgrounds.-Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The adventurous (although two-dimensional) kids from The 7 Professors of the Far North return in a summertime aviation escapade. The children help build a new aircraft, the Silver Turtle, which leads them straight into the path of Noctarma, a diabolical international agency. Wild flights, kidnappings, and other adventures stud this action-packed page-turner. Some spot illustrations are included. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

The cast from The 7 Professors of the Far North (2005) returns in another rip-roaring story. Things start off quietly as four British children help eccentric Professor Ampersand and his friends work on an experimental aircraft called the Silver Turtle. Soon, though, kids Sam, Zara, Ben, and Marcia are propelled into an adventure involving an antigravity machine that was invented during World War II and then lost. The kids also encounter an evil cabal of powerful, shadowy figures who hope\b to find the plans for the machine. The plucky voyagers' journey takes them to the depths of Lake Geneva, the dungeons of a Swiss castle, and the galleries of the Royal Museum of Edinburgh in a novel that features daring escapes, secret codes, and more than one hail of bullets. Rounding out the story are the author's small but elegant black-and-white drawings, which appear on many pages. This sequel offers everything that fans of adventure stories could want. --Todd Morning Copyright 2006 Booklist