The Accelerati Trilogy, Book One Tesla's Attic (The Accelerati Trilogy, Book One)
By Neal Shusterman

After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger
brother, and their father move into a ramshackle Victorian house they've
inherited. When Nick opens the door to his attic room, he's hit in the
head by a toaster. That's just the beginning of his weird experiences
with the old junk stored up there. After getting rid of the odd antiques
in a garage sale, Nick befriends some local kids-Mitch, Caitlin, and
Vincent-and they discover that all of the objects have extraordinary
properties. What's more, Nick figures out that the attic is a strange
magnetic vortex, which attracts all sorts of trouble. It's as if the
attic itself has an intelligence . . . and a purpose. Ultimately
Nick learns that the genius Nikola Tesla placed the items-his last
inventions-in the attic as part of a larger plan that he mathematically
predicted. Nick and his new friends must retrieve everything that was
sold at the garage sale and keep it safe. But the task is fraught with
peril-in addition to the dangers inherent in Tesla's mysterious and
powerful creations, a secret society of physicists, the Accelerati, is
determined to stop Nick and alter destiny to achieve its own devious
ends. It's a lot for a guy to handle, especially when he'd much rather
fly under the radar as the new kid in town. Fans of intrigue, action, humor, and nonstop surprises are guaranteed a read unlike any other in Tesla's Attic, Book One of the Accelerati Trilogy. Praise for Tesla's Attic "Lively,
intelligent prose elevates this story of teenagers versus mad
scientists, the third-person point of view offering a stage to various
players in their play of galactic consequence. A wild tale in the spirit
of Back to the Future, with a hint of Malamud's The Natural tossed in."--Kirkus Reviews "This
collaboration between Shusterman and Elfman tempers the scarier
elements of Nick's quest with deft, humorous writing and plenty of the
ordinary adventures of a new kid in school finding his niche. Hand this
one to fans of Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles or Kenneth Oppel's Airborne."--Booklist *
..".Shusterman and Elfman have crafted a plot more devious, characters
far quirkier, climaxes (yes, there are two) more breathless, and a
narration much, much funnier than recent mad-science offerings. Sticking
with a third-person narration frees the authors to be as wryly and
sophisticatedly witty as they please without compromising the veracity
of their middle-school cast, resulting in storytelling as delightful as
the story being told."