Artemis Fowl
by Eoin Colfer · Artemis Fowl
A twelve-year-old criminal mastermind discovers an underground fairy civilization and hatches an audacious kidnapping scheme — think Ocean's Eleven meets Lord of the Rings, but the heist planner is a kid.
Kid
70
/ 100
Parent
61
/ 100
Teacher
67
/ 100
Best fit: ages 10-12
Still works: ages 9-14
Our Take
An intellectual thriller that entertains kids most effectively through its irresistible hook, distinctive voices, and relentless momentum, while offering moderate but genuine value across parent and teacher lenses — strongest as a reluctant-reader gateway and weakest in emotional depth and real-world window.
✓ Perfect for
- • Kids who love clever antiheroes and outsmarting-the-system stories
- • Readers who find traditional heroes boring and want a protagonist who breaks the mold
- • Fans of heist stories, spy fiction, and strategic cat-and-mouse narratives
- • Reluctant readers who resist earnest or sentimental books
Book facts
- Format
- middle grade novel
- ISBN
- 9780141339092
- Series
- Artemis Fowl
- Illustration
- none
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