What worked:
What a curious conflict between characters. Cat is the biggest weirdo in the seventh grade and she’s determined to prove aliens are creating crop circles at a local farm every thirteen years. Dani wants to get a scholarship to a science camp but her only chance to win one is by pairing up with Cat in a science competition. The idea of aliens is stupid to her so her goal is to disprove her partner’s hypothesis. She doesn’t share this secret with her partner although her comments should give away her plan. Cat knows a lot more about crop circles and space than Dani so Dani’s going to need to come up with her own hypothesis soon. The chapters alternate between the two characters’ viewpoints so readers will experience the excitement and inner turmoil developing within their minds.
Science and math are key elements in the story as both characters love the subjects and respect the process. They quickly figure out the appearance of the crop circles is related to prime numbers. The circles arise every thirteen years and there are always a prime number of them. The girls research news reports about past crop circles around the world although Cat and Dani have different perspectives on what actually happened. They carefully follow the scientific method as they collect evidence from the farm and save control samples for comparison. Strangely, researchers should be unbiased but Cat twists their observations to fit aliens as the cause while Dani does the exact same thing to explain natural causes. They don’t realize their opposing views are actually challenging each other to be better scientists.
Both girls soon recognize something strange is going on, stranger than UFOs and aliens, but they don’t know what. Cat is present when a circle forms right in front of her although she’s not actually able to see it. Men in dark suits show up, ala Men in Black, who take control of the scene, confiscate all of the girls’ evidence and kick them off the property. The owner of the farm is interviewed on the news and the girls know he’s lying about what’s happening. A crop-dusting pilot shares some information with them that gets Dani wondering about her own hypothesis. The author saves some surprises until later in the plot although experienced readers should have a pretty good idea of where the plot’s headed.
What didn’t work as well:
Clues start falling into place enough that the outcome is fairly predictable halfway into the book. The details still need to be refined but readers will get the gist of the resolution.
The Final Verdict:
This book should really appeal to lovers of space research and the scientific method. The back-and-forth of perspectives between Dani and Cat will keep readers wondering about the truth although alien believers will be rooting for Cat. The book’s ending seems to leave the door open for a sequel. Overall, I recommend you give this book a shot.

Over the last few years, I've become quite the fan of the Feiwel and Friends Imprint, a label under MacMillan Children's Publishing Group. I first became familiar with them when one of my author friends, Sarah Cannon, signed with them and it made me anxiously await other releases as I knew they would combine excellent writing and terrific storytelling.

Authors MarcyKate Connolly and Kathryn Holmes are here with "The Thirteenth Circle," a middle-grade sci-fi/fantasy title that does everything I've come to expect from Feiwel and Friends titles by telling an engaging and entertaining story that kept me involved from beginning to end.

With "The Thirteenth Circle," The X-Files meets a bit of Scooby-Doo and more than a little Men in Black to tell the story about two unexpected friends, crop circles, science fairs, and the maybe or maybe not of aliens.

Cat knows aliens are real. She aims to prove it and wants to enter the McMurray Youth Science Competition to give credibility to her work. She plans to study her town's legendary Weston Farm Circles, a study she just knows will win the competition and impress her distant but supportive NASA scientist father.

Dani most certainly does not believe in aliens and is more than a little upset when her partner, Cat, submits the subject matter as "their" competition entry. However, with no other potential partners within their school she opts for a different approach for working with her partner. Dani wants to win McMurray, but mostly because it will allow her to avoid another Summer spent at her parents' artistic kids summer camp.

Dani is not artistic.

Things go wrong. Things go wright. Our mismatched girls bond over science and start to realize there really is something strange about the Weston Farm Circles. When their project is repeatedly threatened by mysterious forces, they realize they're going to have to work together to expose the truth.

Cat and Dani are delightfully realized seventh-grade girls. The book's front cover is almost exactly how I pictured them, Cat being a more frazzled outsider with an inherent likability and Dani being the more popular of the two with a core squad of friends and a slightly more structured existence.

Every little detail makes sense here - from Cat's affinity for Mountain Dew to repeated references to MIB that initially threw me off yet then made me realize that's almost exactly how a seventh-grade lens of sci-fi/fantasy and aliens would be.

Yes, it's true I figured out "The Thirteenth Circle" fairly early on. And yes, I was right. However, I'm also a 50-year-old writer/reviewer reading a middle-grade novel. The truth is that "The Thirteenth Circle" won my heart, won my mind, and entertained me. I enjoyed these characters immensely and enjoyed the storytelling.

Another winner from Feiwel and Friends, "The Thirteenth Circle" is the kind of book that leaves you appreciating the world it creates and is an ideal ready for entry-level sci-fi/fantasy readers with the ability to embrace modestly complex concepts and who will identify with the family and friendship dynamics that feel honesty and richly developed here.