Code Name Cassandra (1-800-Where-R-You) [Mass Market Paperback]

Meg Cabot (Author)

Book Description

Series: 1-800-Where-R-You | Publication Date: December 30, 2003

Jess Mastriani -- dubbed "Lightning Girl" by the press when, after a huge storm, she developed a psychic ability to find missing children -- has lost her miraculous powers. Or has she? She would like the media and the government to think so. All Jess wants is to be left alone, by everyone except sexy Rob Wilkins -- who still hasn't called, by the way....

But it doesn't look like Jess is going to get her wish -- especially not while she's stuck working at a summer camp for musically gifted kids. Then the father of a missing girl shows up to beg Jess to find his daughter. Jess can't say no, but now the feds are on her trail again, as is one ornery stepdad, who'd like to see Lightning Girl...well, dead.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-In When Lightning Strikes (Pocket Pulse, 2001), an accident endowed Jess with the psychic ability to find missing people. After the Feds, the press, and desperate parents of missing children made her life miserable, the teen decided to pretend that her powers were gone. In this sequel, Jess is trying to go back to a normal life. She gets a summer job at a camp for musically gifted children and tries to wrestle with the woes of unwanted press and unruly campers. One boy, Shane, quickly rises as the camp bully and torments his fellow campers. As if that and a cabinful of young boys aren't enough to keep her busy, she is surprised by a visit from a man who begs her to find his missing daughter. She can't say no to him and her life quickly becomes complicated again as she tries to save the girl, dodge the Feds, seduce her sort-of boyfriend, and manage her job. Carroll (aka Meg Cabot of The Princess Diaries [HarperCollins, 2000]) tells the story in the irreverent and slang-peppered language of today's teenagers. With her detention-clouded past and her ambitionless future, the protagonist is no role model, but she is a character that young people will believe and enjoy. The story moves fast and is full of suspense, action, and teen intrigue. Readers who enjoyed the first book will not be disappointed, and newcomers will not be left far behind.

Heather Dieffenbach, Lexington Public Library,

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-10. In this second in the 1-800-Where-R-You series, Jess Mastriani (Lighting Girl) takes a job at a summer camp for gifted musical kids to escape the publicity and danger that have accompanied her powers of telepathy, which were triggered by a lightning strike. Determined never again to use her extraordinary talents to locate missing children, she vows to lead a normal teenage existence, boys and all--despite very obvious FBI surveillance. Carroll, author of The Princess Diaries (2000), paces the story well, smoothly moving from typical teen and camp conversations and situations to the tense and mysterious stalking of Jess by both police and kidnappers. With more substance than many books in the genre, this will be an easy sell. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (December 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689868456
• ISBN-13: 978-0689868450
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,772,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Hilarious Must Read!, September 9, 2003

By 

Silmarwen (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Code Name Cassandra (Mass Market Paperback)

Jessica "Jess" Mastriani had finally convinced the FBI, the press, the military and everyone else in the vicinity of southern Indiana that she had lost her psychic powers and could no longer find missing people. Well, sort of. See, Jess knew that she was being followed by the FBI and that they were just waiting for her to accidentally show that she still did have her powers, but Jess had a system. When Jess had the chance to become a camp counselor at Camp Wawasee for the summer with her best friend, Ruth, she jumped at the chance to get the feds away from her house and to escape having to work in one of her family's restaurants for the whole summer. After all, how bad can a camp for musically gifted children be?

Well, with a lame name like Camp Wawasee, Jess should have realized that her summer wasn't going to go the way she planned it. First, they took her Frangipani Cottage away with all of her little female campers who would have adored her and assigned her to Birch Tree Cottage where the little male campers were intent on making her life miserable - especially Shane. Shane was a football player wannabe who was stuck at music camp because that is where his mother wanted him to be. Jess would be just as happy to have him at football camp and she cannot believe that anyone who acts the way he does can play like an angel. She definitely has her hands full trying to keep Shane from picking on the other kids and trying to get him to believe that she really did lose her powers (even though she didn't).

As if Jess didn't have enough problems, Jonathan Herzberg, a desperate father approaches Jess and begs her to find his daughter Keely. Jess refuses and tries to tell him that she doesn't find people anymore, but when he shoves the picture in front of her face, Jess knows that she will wake up the next morning knowing where Keely is whether she wants to or not. She isn't going to make the same mistake as last time though, this time she is going to make sure that Keely wants to be found....

This is the second book in the Lightning Girl series of the 1-800-WHERE-R-U series and it is just as entertaining as the first. Jess is a great lead character who is laugh out loud funny throughout the whole book. The other characters are great, too, but Jess is my favorite. Jess has a knack for getting herself into impossible situations and having to be creative to get out again and so it is always a surprise to see what she will do next. I highly recommend this series - all four of the books in this series (When Lightning Strikes, Code Name Cassandra, Safe House & Sanctuary) are all must reads!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mystery and Music, August 17, 2004

By 

L O'connor (richmond, surrey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Code Name Cassandra (1-800-Where-R-You) (Mass Market Paperback)

Sixteen-year-old tomboy Jess claims to have lost her amazing ability to find missing children (gained when she was struck by lightning). The FBI is not convinced though, and agents Smith and Johnson are still trailing her. Jess takes a job as a councillor at a summer camp for gifted musical children, and finds herself in charge of a cabinful of very rowdy boys. To make matters worse, one of the teachers at the camp discovers her guilty secret (not her psychic ability, her other guilty secret)Then a distraught father turns up at the camp, begging Jess to find his missing daughter. Jess can't resist helping him, but she needs the assistance of hunky Rob Wilkins, whose girlfriend she would like to be (if only he could overcome his scruples over their age difference). Finding the gilr plunges Jess into real danger though, as she becomes the target for a homicidal maniac. This is an exciting, fun mystery with lots of suspence and humour. Jess is a very likeable heroine, and Rob wilkins is utterly gorgeous (I do hope Jess manges to get him to forget the age difference).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to the series, November 21, 2001

By 

Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Code Name Cassandra (Mass Market Paperback)

"Code Name Cassandra" is an excellent edition to the 1-800-WHERE-R-U series.

Jess Mastriani is back again for a 2nd installment about her strange life. After being hit by lightning in the last book Jess was able to locate missing children, she was taken to an FBI station and forced to stay there until she escaped. Now everyone thinks she doesn't have her powers anymore. But she has a secret, her psychic ability is still there.

A man approaches Jess as she's working at a summer camp for musically gifted children. He wants her to find his daughter. She'd love to but then the feds will know she still has her powers, but she does what she knows she has to do. Jess is on the case, and now not only does she have the FBI on her trail again, she now has the girls stepfather on her back who wants her dead.

This is an excellent book, and I recommend it to any fan of Jenny Carroll, and fans of paranormal phenomena.