“Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself (Nick and Tesla #1)” by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, Mystery
Source: Library
Summary from Goodreads:
Nick and Tesla are bright 11-year-old siblings with a knack for science, electronics, and getting into trouble. When their parents mysteriously vanish, they’re sent to live with their Uncle Newt, a brilliant inventor who engineers top-secret gadgets for a classified government agency. It’s not long before Nick and Tesla are embarking on adventures of their own—engineering all kinds of outrageous MacGyverish contraptions to save their skin: 9-volt burglar alarms, electromagnets, mobile tracking devices, and more. Readers are invited to join in the fun as each story contains instructions and blueprints for five different projects.
In Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab, we meet the characters and learn how to make everything from rocket launchers to soda-powered vehicles. Learning about science has never been so dangerous—or so much fun!
- Nice little mystery that’s on par for the age level.
- The mystery wasn’t boring. It certainly didn’t turn out like I was expecting it to.
- I appreciated that the characters weren’t dumbed down. Both Nick and Tesla were smart, inventive kids!
- I liked that the book was interactive and you were given instructions on how to build these gadgets. I didn’t build anything but the instructions didn’t look too hard and great for the age level. I think kids could build the gadgets with a bit of adult supervision.
- I particularly liked how the gadgets were a PART of the book. You were actually building what Nick and Tesla were building and using.
The bottom line? Fun book for the age group!
The Cheap Reader 
Sounds like a good book, but younger than I usually read. I think I would’ve liked the gadgets when I was in third grade. Kids always like getting something extra. Like from those book orders they had in grade school. haha!
It’s definitely a fun bonus to the story.