Reviews for Mac Slater vs. the City

Cool hunter Mac Slater is back, and this time the intrepid Aussie teen is tackling the mean streets of New York City (Mac Slater Hunts the Cool, 2010). After winning the cool-hunting contest on his home turf, Mac now has to come up with a week's worth of NYC awesomeness if he wants to keep his cool-spotting job. Hunters who don't make the cut will not be invited to the next gig in Shanghai. So Mac befriends local trendsetter Melody, who introduces him to a top-secret teen-invention community run by a former hip-hop mogul called The Hive. Mac is dying to use The Hive's goods (which include a nearly mythical perpetual motion machine) to make his cool-hunting rep, but that would mean betraying Melody's trust. Is Mac a true innovator or just another corporate sell-out? As formulaic as its predecessor, this breezy sequel is nevertheless entertaining and provides some fast food for thought about the connection between pop culture and consumerism, like similarly themed The Gospel According to Larry, by Janet Tashjian (2001). But read it fast, because the expiration date on this up-to-the-minute title may be past by the time it hits the library or bookstore shelves. (Fiction. 10-13)

Gr 5-8--In this sequel to Mac Slater Hunts the Cool (S & S, 2010), the eighth grader, his father, and his friend Paul travel from small-town Kings Bay, Australia, to New York City for their second Coolhunter competition. Coolhunters are young adults who find the most cutting-edge things to try to make, get, or achieve by posting, streaming, or linking to them on the Coolhunter website. Unfortunately, when they arrive in Manhattan, the owners of the site, who have promised to fund anything and everything during their stay in the Big Apple, are nowhere to be found. Lost luggage, a taxi strike, a seedy hotel in Times Square, little funds, and being 10,000 miles from home are just a few things that get these three off to the wrong start. The owners do finally arrive, and the Coolhunter competition is on, with Mac and Paul pitted against four other competitors. The story takes twists and turns that are both surprising and rewarding. Mac will have kids rooting for him and screaming at him not to do stupid things, and they'll second-guess some of his decisions. An easy sell to many middle graders.--Patty Saidenberg, George Jackson Academy, New York City