Robert Elmer, Road Blog

Robert Elmer, Road Blog - Worried about his preadolescent son Austin spending every free moment on the Internet, Tom Webster decides on a family trip to the same spot he "enjoyed" as a two year old. Thus Tom, his wife Evelyne, their two children Austin and Ashley and their niece, "Aunt" Jessi (same age as their kids), leave Normal, Illinois,, to drive to the Lost Lake Resort in Upper Michigan.

At the same time, Raven "Mr. Z" Zawistokowski and his boss Mattie Blankenskrean discuss keeping the Webster kids out of the net and cleansing websites; for instance, just visit a site on Paul's journey from Damascus with sunglasses. Their plan is to catch the kids when they go in line and take away their computer that seems to enable them to do so.

The three pre-teens notice the net has been acting strange lately. However, this time they visit live Austin's web site with their parents along for the first time followed by Mr. Z tracking them. Though Mattie has warned him not to harm any of the Websters, Mr. Z believes the best solution is Alt-Ctrl-Del and if that fails to cleanse the problem, delete the Webster quintet.

The sixth entry in Robert Elmer's wonderfully creative Hyperlinkz tales, ROAD BLOG is a delightful entry starring the intrepid trio, the two villains and, in a more active role, the Webster parents. The storyline is fast-paced as readers visit Lewis and Clark and other websites alongside Austin, Ashley and Jessi. Middle school kids will appreciate this exhilarating, stand-alone thriller though it still has links to the previous novels that newcomers will want to read too.

WaterBrook, Apr 2005, $5.99, 128 pp.

ISBN: 1578567521

Harriet Klausner