Over the past month, I read The Misfits series by Lisa Yee & Dan Santat. This adventure series is about Olive Cobin Zang, a twelve-year-old girl who often experiences weird things even though she typically isn't noticed much. In the first book, A Royal Conundrum, Olive is coping with the loss of her beloved grandmother, Mimi, and wishes her parents were around more because they're always going on business trips. When her mom, Dr. Cobin Zang, drops her off at RASCH, a strange boarding school that used to be a prison and now claims to be a "reforming arts school", Olive is more than a little apprehensive. The school isn't what it seems, though, and she is selected to fight crime along with four other kids, Phil, Iggy, James, and Theo, who don't quite fit it. They decide to call themselves the Misfits, and after the Royal Rumpus necklace is stolen from Dame Gloria Vanderwisp, a woman who helps fund RASCH, at the school's gala, the Misfits have to find the thief to save the only place where they've ever really belonged from being closed. In the second book, A Copycat Conundrum, Olive's friend, Zeke, starts receives threatening notes and San Francisco is experiencing localized earthquakes while priceless art disappears. The Misfits have to figure out if there's a connection between who is targeting Zeke and who is behind the art heists in the city and how to stop them. In the third book, A Sea Monster Conundrum, RASCH students claim they see a ghost around an abandoned lighthouse. While taking a group of tourists to explore the Donut Trespass zone of the island, they learn more about what could be causing the appearance of a ghost. After multiple news reports about sightings of a sea monster, nicknamed Frannie, in the San Francisco Bay, they investigate to determine if Frannie is real or an elaborate hoax. When Olive and Iggy make a shocking discovery at Marine World, a theme park owned by the self-centered billionaire Oscar "Odious" Odion, it is up to the Misfits to come up with a scheme for a rescue mission.
I had so much fun reading this book series because the action and adventure of the Misfits' NOCK missions was absolutely exhilarating. Although Olive and the other Misfits have such different personalities and would sometimes argue, they always came together to save the day. I also really enjoyed the other characters' quirkiness, allies and villains alike, especially the Misfits' team leaders, Modest Cusak and Monica LaMonica, who are husband and wife. What surprised me the most by A Sea Monster Conundrum was how much I grew to care about Bee, a super-small, super-stealth drone that Phil invented to look like a bee. In general, I thought Phil's gadgets were the coolest and they always came in handy when the Misfits were in a tight spot. Out of the three books, A Sea Monster Conundrum felt the most emotional because the Misfits weren't just dealing with robberies and it revealed how big of a heart Iggy has. She likes to seem tough, but the third mission really brought out the best in her. Additionally, the plot twists kept me guessing when it came to the mystery elements of this series. Finally, I can't forget to mention how awesome I thought it was that Mimi taught Olive the tricks of trapeze, tightrope, and other acrobatics. Olive's athleticism was so crucial to the success of their missions, especially during the most critical of moments. Weirdly enough, the epilogue of the third book had a huge cliffhanger, but I did some research and there are no current plans to extend this trilogy into a longer series. Despite that, The Misfits is a terrific choice for anyone who likes adventure, mystery, and unique characters.
