Masterminds, Gordon Korman. What a ride of a story. Serenity is home to 185 people and voted the country's best spot to live. And, with the town boasting honesty, harmony and contentment, who would want to leave. Everyone knows everyone and the adults either work for the Serenity Plastics Works, the world's largest producer of orange construction cones, or the Surety, dubbed the Purple People Eaters, by the kids. When Randy talks Eli into riding their bikes out past the sign, Now Leaving Serenity -- America's Ideal Community, Eli gets violently ill and must be helicoptered back home. Soon after, Randy, his best friend, is leaving to go live with his grandparents. Confused that Randy is forced to leave so unexpectedly, Eli searches for clues and finds a letter left by his friend saying that something "screwy" is going on in Serenity. He shares the letter with a few classmates, thus setting off a heart racing, page turning climb into the heart of this cozy little town, the Plastics Works factory. It is a race against evil, a race against the unknown, a race against the Purple People Eaters. Their only hope is Randy and how to get to him.

This is surely going to leave the reader ready for the next installment and yearning for answers left untold.  What a delicious read aloud this would make for any upper elementary classroom.