The Nebula Secret by Trudi Trueit

 Cruz Coronado and his dad live in Hawaii and Cruz is a surfer boy.  His mother, however, was an elite scientist who worked for an organization called The Explorer Academy.  Ever since his mother's death in a tragic accident, Cruz has wanted to be admited to the academy as a student. His dream comes true the summer before his 13th birthday.  He flies to Washington DC and joins 23 ultra talented like-minded tweens from around the world.  Once he is at the academy, however, things don't go smoothly for Cruz. Someone seems to be out to get him, and he doesn't know why. Eventually he figures out that it has to do with his mother and a project she was working on before she died.  Could her death have been more than an accident?  As Cruz and his friends try to figure out the clues, they come closer to mortal danger.

This is the first in a long series produced by National Geographic.  The series is fairly popular at my library so I decided to give it a try.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The writing is decent and there is definitely a coolness/wish-fullfillment element that I think both girls and boys will enjoy.  At the end of the book there is a note that explains what science/tech in the story was real and what has not yet been invented.  It also highlights several of the real scientists mentioned in the book. Another plus is that the recorded book is read by Ramon de Ocampo, who is one of the best kid's book readers out there right now.  Even though the kids on Cruz' team are all from different countries, de Ocampo does a good job at least suggesting all their different accents.  I put the next book in the series on hold. (2019, 208 p)