Operation Scattered Spies:

August 15, 2009 8:59 PM

Help me put this series of "The Spy Five" books in the appropriate reading order for my niece.

Originally published by Scholastic, The Spy Five books are now out of print. Although they're "by" Spencer Strange, the main character, they appear to be written by Andrea Menotti (credited with "words") and illustrated by Kelly Kennedy ("pictures"). The ten books we've given her, which I believe comprise the entire series, are:

Operation Kung Fooled You - pretty sure this really is the first one
Operation Night Fright
Operation Fowl Play
Operation Super Five
Operation Master Mole
Operation Code Red
Operation Phantom Dribbler
Operation Kangaroo Trap
Operation Wise Disguise
Operation Billion Gazillion

I'd like to know either the publication order or, if anyone knows it's different, the recommended reading order. I'm also just guessing that these are all the books, as I've found no mention of any other titles on the net, so if anyone knows otherwise that would help too.

I did find an Andrea Menotti who works as a Senior Editor at Chronicle Books now, but I have no idea if she's the same person who wrote these.

posted by JaredSeth to writing & language (3 comments total)

This is the most I could find out about them from Amazon (they don't show up on Bookscan):

Operation Kung Fooled You - 2004
Operation Night Fright - 2005
Operation Fowl Play - 2004
Operation Super Five - 2005
Operation Master Mole - 2004
Operation Code Red - 2005
Operation Phantom Dribbler - 2005
Operation Kangaroo Trap - 2004
Operation Wise Disguise - 2005
Operation Billion Gazillion - 2005

I found three books listed as a pack (which would mean, I think that they go in this order):
3 SPY FIVE paperback book set: OPERATION WISE DISGUISE / OPERATION SUPER FIVE / and OPERATION BILLION GAZILLION
posted by ocherdraco at 9:42 PM on August 15

Thanks, ocher. I'd noticed the publication years in the books, but I'm really trying to nail down the order and the lack of months isn't making it any easier. I'm pretty sure Kung Fooled You is first, since it starts out with Spencer moving to New York and ends with the formation of The Spy Five.

After spending half the night searching the web for more information, I'm at the point where I'm thinking about emailing Andrea Menotti (assuming I can track down an email address for her) and asking her if she's the author and can clarify for me.
posted by JaredSeth at 7:14 AM on August 16

I think it's likely that the books are written (with the exception of the first one) to be read in no particular order. Children's series tend to be very explicit about order: they'll have series numbers on them, will have a page in the book listing all the previous titles, etc. I think these books don't have that information because that information doesn't exist for them.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:36 AM on August 16