"A bold, big-hearted start to a groundbreaking new series." — Soman Chainani, author of The School for Good and Evil

The New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Wonders series and books in the 39 Clues series, Peter Lerangis, brings us the enthralling first installment of the Max Tilt trilogy.

When thirteen-year-old Max Tilt happens upon his great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne's unfinished, unpublished manuscript, The Lost Treasures, he doesn't realize that he's found the answers to all his problems. And Max has a lot of problems — his mother is sick, his father is out of work, and his home is about to be foreclosed on. But when Max and his cousin Alex discover that Verne's last work reveals everything he wrote was fact, not fiction, they realize that the book holds the key to something incredibly valuable. A treasure that can save his house — and maybe his entire family.

But Max and Alex aren't the only ones who know about Verne's clues. Spencer Niemand, a strange skunk-haired man who has spent his life researching Verne's works, is bent on reshaping the world with the hidden treasure. To find it first, Max and Alex must go on an adventure that'll take them from the broken remains of an underwater city to the very jaws of a giant squid to the edges of a whirlpool from which no one has ever emerged alive.

This is the first book in a new hair-raising, edge-of-your-seat adventure series from master storyteller and New York Times bestselling author Peter Lerangis.

From School Library Journal

Gr 4–6—With his mother in the hospital, his father unemployed, the mortgage overdue, and utilities shut off, 13-year-old Max Tilt needs help, but he never expects that his salvation might come from his great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne. Searching for garage sale items, he and his cousin Alex Verne find a strange chest in the attic; the clues inside it lead them to the unpublished chapters of Verne's memoir, The Lost Treasures, and to the path that Verne followed in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But Alex and Max are not alone in their quest for the lost treasure—evil tycoon Spencer Niemand has made it his life's goal to claim it and build an underwater civilization, his own refuge for a dying planet. Together this unlikely team venture to a lost underwater city, cross treacherous frozen mountains, battle giant squid, navigate vicious whirlpools, and brave deadly cold on a quest that may follow the passage of the real, not fictional, Nautilus. Lerangis brings Jules Verne to life for a new generation, and instantly pulls readers in with enticing clues, fast-paced action, and intriguing characters. Max is a likeable hero; he is clever, brave, and ready to risk it all for his family. He has been labeled as "on the spectrum;" his emotions trigger associative smells, he loves facts, and sometimes has trouble relating to people. VERDICT Readers will be hooked by the high-octane adventure and charmed by the well-developed characters. Fans of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter will eagerly await Max Tilt's next adventure.—MaryAnn Karre, Vestal, NY

Review

“Max Tilt at once celebrates the old-fashioned storytelling of Jules Verne and updates it for modern readers, undermining archetypes and tropes to create a hero in Max Tilt who is honest, human, and almost impossibly lovable.” — Soman Chainani, author of The School for Good and Evil

“Lerangis brings Jules Verne to life for a new generation, and instantly pulls readers in with enticing clues, fast-paced action, and intriguing characters.” — School Library Journal

“With an action-filled plot that moves at a breakneck pace and each chapter ending on a cliff-hanger, this series starter may have young readers reaching for the Verne classic that inspired this adventure, while waiting for more from Max and Alex.” — Booklist

About the Author

Peter Lerangis is the author of more than one hundred and seventy books, which have sold more than six million copies and been translated into thirty-three different languages. Nine of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, including all five titles in the Seven Wonders series: The Colossus Rises, Lost in Babylon, The Tomb of Shadows, The Curse of the King , and The Legend of the Rift ; and several books in the 39 Clues series. Peter is a Harvard graduate with a degree in biochemistry. He has run a marathon and gone rock climbing during an earthquake--though not on the same day. He lives in New York City with his wife, musician Tina deVaron, where they raised two sons, Nick and Joe. In his spare time, he likes to eat chocolate.