Magoon, Kekla

Kekla Magoon is the author of many novels and nonfiction books for young readers, including The Season of Styx Malone, The Rock and the River, How It Went Down, and the Robyn Hoodlum Adventure series. She has received four Coretta Scott King Honors, the Walter Award Honor, and an NAACP Image Award, and has long been listed for the National Book Award. Chester Keene, the lead character in Magoon’s YA adventure Chester Keene Cracks the Code (Wendy Lamb Books), takes great comfort in his routines. After-school Monday to Thursday is bowling; Friday is laser tag. But Chester’s very special thing is the secret spy messages from his dad, who must be on covert government assignments, which is why Chester’s never met him. Then one day, Chester’s classmate, Skye, approaches him with a complex puzzle-solving mission. Skye is a helpful partner and good company, even if her freewheeling ways are disruptive to Chester’s carefully built schedule. As Chester and Skye get closer to their final clue, they discover the key to their spy assignment: They must stop a heist. But cracking this code may mean finding out things are not always what they seem.