THE ANTARCTIC SCOOP

Victoria, 12, is a science nerd with an active imagination. She plans to be an astrophysicist one day if she can keep out of trouble at school. She wins a magazine contest to be the first kid scientist to visit Antarctica, but the company backing the trip wants to exploit the continent for tourism. Victoria foils their plan and gets to the South Pole, where she meets and assists her idol, Dr. Robin Reynolds, and even meets a boy once she gets home. A spunky, though at times annoying, protagonist can’t save this scattered, unrealistic wannabe thriller. Even the adult characters don’t act realistically. If this were entirely a child’s fantasy about a trip to Antarctica, it would be partially successful. In all, it’s a very pale imitation of Troubling a Star. Pass on this and purchase another copy of L’Engle’s classic. (Fiction. 8-12)