Native Tongue: A Teen Spy Thriller

I can't tell you much about the details of the books since I haven't read them myself, but I can tell you that my 13 year old and 15 year old Goddaughters LOVE this series. I bought the first book for them for Christmas. They had both finished it by December 28th. I bought the other three and between the two of them have finished all 4 books in less than three weeks and can't wait for the 5th book. I would highly reccommend this book to any parent looking to get their child more interested in reading.

The fourth volume in The Specialists series features Parrot, who is gifted in learning languages. GiGi and Parrot have to go to the jungle of Rutina, South America, to help at a conclave of American Indian tribes. They are meeting to decide the fate of a legendary vase that has surfaced. All claim to own it, and only if GiGi can work her new decoding computer program to reveal the meaning of some hieroglyphics will the true owner be revealed. Easy, right? Well, not quite. Shannon Greenland's fast-paced, smart spy series provides lots of twists and surprises for all characters in this adventure. GiGi is finally out on her first date with David, which they have both wanted but never had a chance to do in between world-saving missions for their team of super-talented teens, the Specialists. They are having a good time but are then paged to return to be briefed for this new mission with Parrot. Despite his linguistic skills, Parrot has been among the quietest of the Specialists, and no one knows much about what happened to him before he was asked to join the team. Parrot (whose real name is Darren) grew up doing work for Talon, a Native American chief who was a very bad man. He lived with his grandmother and knew nothing about where his mother disappeared to. When he was arrested, Talon claimed he would never find her if he turned him in, so he didn't. Now he learns that Talon will be at the meeting over the vase. When their plane lands in South America, GiGi is stopped by security because she resembles a criminal who is depicted in a drawing. She recognizes the person in the sketch as someone who helped the team on a previous mission and acknowledges their similar appearances. No one has answers, and they are able to convince the police that GiGi has been hired by the Native American Alliances with the rest of the team, and they are released. When they arrive in the jungle, they join team members from other areas, including Professor Quirk, who seems to be a GiGi clone. He and GiGi talk code and get deep into their hieroglyphics, and she is thrilled to come in contact with someone who seems to understand her. While they frantically try to solve the mystery of who owns the vase, some of the tribes attempt to join forces to take it. Parrot is determined to keep everyone calm while translating the languages of all the tribes and representatives, but it's clear that the ownership of the vase means power to all. He is also trying to obtain clues concerning the whereabouts of his mother. Unrest erupts into violence, affecting even the team members, and GiGi and Parrot find themselves alone against two international killers, fighting for their lives. Great gadgets, action, realistic and fun characters, and even light romance make this not-to-be-missed series a winner. --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

I can't seem to find enough really good adjectives to describe Shannon Greenland's writing. The Specialists Young Adult series has become one of my favorites and that is saying a lot for a 43-year-old woman with no children. NATIVE TONGUE is a bit of a departure from the series as it has a much more serious tone than the previous books. But it is by far the best. Parrott is a wonderful character with some deeply emotional issues. The premise of family is much stronger in this book than the others and offers us a deeper look into both Parrott and Gigi's personalities. The fun part is meeting the colorful characters when we head into the jungle. Adventure is a great venue for Greenland as a writer and she pulls off all the various aspects of this book with ease. Each of her books is better than the last. Don't you dare jump into this series in the middle, start with MODEL SPY, and enjoy every word.

I have really enjoyed this series - I actually buy them for my daughter, but ended up hooked myself! This book has GiGi going on her 4th Mission this time with Parrot, but realises how far she has come since joining The Specialists as she finds herself reassuring Parrot and taking more of the iniative. Parrot is the official translator for a meeting to decide ownership of an ancient vase, and GiGi is there to help decipher the writing working with Professor Quirk. I think the plot of this book perhaps lacked a little bit of the 'urgency' of the situation ie if the vase fell into the wrong hands what would actually happen? However Talon's evilness did bring sufficient 'bad guy must be stopped' factor to the story to more than keep it moving along. At no point did the story drag, and I have actually read it twice since it arrived - once straight out of the wrapper, and once after re-reading the whole series. We also see her relationship with David develop but not is all smooth running with love. We get to know Jonathan more, as he is team leader for this mission. In The Winning Element GiGi pushed her limits wtih TL's (The Boss) tolerance and it was good to see that she has learnt from it and they seem to be working back towards trusting each other. AND as always the BIG twist at the end that has you just DYING to read the next book. I highly recommend this series and suggest that they are read in order to follow the group of misfits in book one to the close knit team in book 4.

Despite initial assurances to GiGi that she'd be working from home base, book 4 of the Specialists series, Native Tongue, finds her preparing to go on her 4th mission, this time to South America to use a computer program she developed to translate some cave hieroglyphs that are supposed to reveal which of 15 indigenous tribes gets a vase said to have magical powers. Linguist Parrot, a Native American himself, is going along as the official translator. And wouldn't you know it? One of the tribal elders, Talon, is an evil human trafficker from Parrot's past and he has his own plans for the mystical vase. In many ways, this was probably my favorite installment of the series so far, maybe because I relate to it the most. I've never been to modeling school (Model Spy) broken into a museum (Down to the Wire), or been to a cheerleading camp (The Winning Element), but I have ridden a horse named Diablo through the South American jungle! I was totally hooked by the linguistic aspect of the book. I envy Parrot's ability to pick up languages so easily - it took me years to master Spanish and German - and although I could once get by pretty well in Japanese, I only have enough for party tricks now. Parrot gets a really cool language lab at the Specialists headquarters (all of the Specialists get their own tricked out labs) - it's the one I covet the most for sure. I also really like the way GiGi has developed as a character throughout the series. Once wholly absorbed in computer coding and not very social, she is now dating one of the other Specialists and has a flirt with Professor Quirk, a fellow blond genius who is charged with helping her translate the cave paintings. Her relationship with Parrot felt very authentic and it was sweet how she went out of her way to comfort him, something I couldn't have imagined earlier in the series. The mission itself wasn't my favorite though (Down to the Wire wins there) because I never got a sense of what could happen if the mystical vase fell into the wrong hands. I mean obviously I was rooting for them to take down Talon, but I would have liked a tad more urgency. I am very eager to read book 5, especially due to the teaser at the end regarding a possible relative of GiGi's. I hope I will not have to wait too long for it to come out. This is really an exciting series and one that anyone with a sense of adventure can enjoy. See all my reviews at presentinglenore.blogspot.com