The Final Cut

Name: The Final Cut
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Denis Markell
ISBN: 9780593510568

Author: Denis Markell

Narrator: Kirby Heyborne

Unabridged: 7 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Listening Library

Published: 04/26/2022

Categories: Children's Fiction, Children's Social Themes, Performing Arts Stories, Children's Mystery & Detective

Synopsis

An hilarious coming-of-age story about home, friendship, and learning that sometimes the most exciting adventures happen behind-the-scenes.

Alex Davis is convinced that seventh grade is going to be his year. After spending all summer at skate camp, he knows he’ll finally be seen as one of the “cool kids” . . . until he’s mistakenly put in the wrong elective. Now, instead of taking a popular video games class with his friends, he’s stuck in Filmmaking with hipster teacher Pablo and a group of eccentric classmates.

But when it’s announced that their films will be entered in the school’s annual Golden Reel competition, Alex becomes determined to claim first prize and salvage his seventh-grade year.

With the help of his longtime crush, his best friend, and a peculiar new student, Alex sets out to make a masterpiece. Soon he discovers that someone is trying to sabotage his film and finds himself embroiled in a mystery—one that leads him and his crew to conniving classmates, traitorous teachers, and even corrupt city politicians!

About The Author

Denis Markell has written three other novels for kids--the puzzle-packed mystery Click Here to Start, the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired adventure The Game Masters of Garden Place, and the kid-friendly horror story The Ghost in Apartment 2R. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, illustrator Melissa Iwai, and his son, Jamie. You can find Denis on Twitter at @DenisMarkell, and yes, he'd be happy to do a Skype author visit for your kid's class.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Stephanie

Alex is in 7th grade, and is excited to finally be able to choose his own electives at his private school in Brooklyn. Although he is devastated to miss out on the game development course, he quickly becomes excited by the course he did get, ‘The Moving Image,’ which is a filmmaking course. And he i......more

Goodreads review by Barbara

Although seventh grader Alex Davis is sure that this is going to be HIS year, the one in which he will be regarded as cool and popular, his hopes are quickly dashed when no one seems impressed by his changes and he's assigned to a film class rather than the gaming elective he hoped for. But a film c......more

Goodreads review by Lisa

Alex Davis is finally in 7th grade, where he gets to choose an elective! Although he hoped for the cool video game design class, he ended up in Filmaking. Determined to make the best of it - and excited about the school's Golden Reel competition, Alex, Priti Sharma - the prettiest girl at school, hi......more

Quotes

Praise for The Final Cut:

“This droll middle school mystery, set in and around Brooklyn Heights, will especially delight New Yorkers with its familiar landmarks and gentle satire.”--The New York Times

"A heady romp, fun and scary in turn, with just deserts dealt all round."--Kirkus Reviews

"Snappy dialogue and reluctant camaraderie make for an appealing neighborhood caper."--PW

Praise for Denis Markell:

"[An] affectionate tribute to a richly diverse, close-knit Brooklyn neighborhood and its multigenerational residents."--Publishers Weekly on The Ghost in Apartment 2R

"This is a great book to hand to just about any middle grade reader."--YA Books Central on Click Here to Start

"So inventive, and so much fun!"--Wendy Mass, NYT bestselling author of the Candymakers series on Game Masters of Garden Place