Mac Slater isn’t the coolest kid in school, but he loves to take big risks. And it is one of his biggest—an attempt to jump over forty kids with a flying bicycle—that catches the attention of Tastemakers, a new Internet company looking for trend-spotting correspondents in up-and-coming cities like Mac’s beach front town. But the coolest girl in school is also up for the title of Tastemaker, and Mac has just one week to prove he has what it takes to get the job. Readers will love getting the inside scoop along with Mac on the newest technology and trends! Grade 6–9—Once a haven for hippies and starving artists, eighth-grader Mac Slater's seaside hometown in Australia has begun to be recognized as one of the world's coolest destinations. After watching Mac crash his latest extreme invention, a flying bike, Coolhunters, a Web-based company looking for young people to post their reports on the hottest new trends, invites him to participate in a contest to become their next correspondent. All he has to do to win is post daily videos of the coolest trends coming out of Kings Bay and attract more online votes than his competition. The gig comes with cash, free stuff, and travel opportunities, including a trip to New York. The problem is, unconventional Mac is not sure he knows what "cool" even means. A geeky outcast at school, he lives in a converted double-decker bus with his street-performer mom. His estranged dad, still living nearby, is a prickly, aging activist and inventor who spends time working on oddball projects like an energy-capturing "lightning farm" when he's not serving time for civil disobedience. Mac's biggest obstacle, though, is his cutthroat classmate Cat DeVrees, a beautiful, calculating fashionista with a huge wardrobe and a goony boyfriend. There's no way she's going to let some loser get between her and the big-time celebrity she feels entitled to. First in a planned series, this novel affirms a truth adolescents need to be reminded of: that true cool comes from within and can't be obtained with a credit card.— Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Tristan Bancks is an author with a background in acting and filmmaking. He loves the beach, space, New York City, making movies, flying, ice cream, theme parks and mind-blowing inventions. Mac Slater Hunts the Cool was his first book for middle-graders. He lives in Australia.