Bestselling Middle Grade Author James Ponti Shares New City Spies Book

St. Louis County Library Foundation's Reading Garden Series for Young Audiences is pleased to present popular and award-winning middle grade author James Ponti for a discussion of the highly anticipated new installment in his City Spies series, “City of the Dead.”

James Ponti will be in conversation with St. Louis-based middle grade write Georg Jreije, author of “Shad Hadid and the Alchemist of Alexandria.”

The event will take place on Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 p.m. at the Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson Rd, Ellisville, MO 63011.

The program is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event from the Novel Neighbor.

In this fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies go codebreaking in Cairo.

Codename Kathmandu, better known as Kat, loves logic and order, has a favorite eight-digit number, and can spot a pattern from a mile away. So when a series of cyberattacks hits key locations in London while the spies are testing security for the British Museum, it’s clear that Kat’s skill for finding reason in what seems like randomness makes her the perfect candidate to lead the job.

And while the team follows the deciphered messages to Egypt and the ancient City of the Dead to discover who is behind the attacks and why, Kat soon realizes that there’s another layer to the mystery.

With more players, more clues, and involving higher levels of British Intelligence than ever before, this mission is one of the most complex that the group has faced to date.

James Ponti is the New York Times bestselling author of three middle grade book series: City Spies, about an unlikely squad of five kids from around the world who form an elite MI6 Spy Team; the Edgar Award–winning Framed! series, about a pair of tweens who solve mysteries in Washington, DC; and the Dead City trilogy, about a secret society that polices the undead living beneath Manhattan.

Ponti’s books have appeared on more than 15 different state award lists and he is the founder of a writers group known as the Renegades of Middle Grade. James is also an Emmy–nominated television writer and producer who has worked for many networks including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, History, and Spike TV, as well as NBC Sports.

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.