Line #23 Literature/ASpyInTheNeighborhood


1	[[quoteright:335:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/51sycamore.jpg]]
2	-->'''Paul:''' Never forget, that espionage flourishes while the world snores.
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4	''A Spy in the Neighbourhood'' (also published as ''51 Sycamore Lane'') tells the story of three boys who believe that a woman in their neighborhood may in fact be a spy for a foreign government. So they decide to do some spying themselves to try to get proof.
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6	[[AC:The kids themselves are:]]
7	* Paul H. Botts - A smart kid who engages in LittleProfessorDialog, but still makes kid-like mistakes and gets things wrong despite his wealth of knowledge and large (yet still appropriate) vocabulary, which is borderline SesquipedalianLoquaciousness but tends to avoid crossing the line.
8	* Quentin - The douchebag of the group. He gets amazed easily and says "wow" at inappropriate times, and says dumb and random things to people.
9	* The narrator - The main character's name and gender are literally never given in the story. People just address him/her by talking to him/her without saying his/her name. S/he's a FirstPersonSmartass, narrating the story while making humorous comments on everything. If you go by cover art, the main character is a boy, but if you go by narrative, the main character could be anything.
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11	Making things a bit complicated for the kids is the spy's pet chicken, who is considered a nuisance by her neighbor, who in turn is trying to get the chicken removed from the neighborhood via petition. If enough attention is brought to that issue, then the kids' plans will go up in smoke as they won't be able to spy on their suspected spy anymore. So they try to thwart her by taking the train to the big city and hiring a lawyer to try to get the petition shut down, which doesn't work out.
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13	Having failed at that, the kids just decide to go ahead and spy on her anyway, showing up early in the morning to observe her and try to get as much information and proof as they can. Even with the help of the smart-for-his-age Paul, their efforts are still amateurish.
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15	A light-hearted, mildly comedic suburban adventure by the author of ''Nate the Great''.
16	----
17	!!This book contains examples of:
18	* AntiClimax - [[spoiler:She's not a spy, just a little eccentric.]] The end.
19	* FirstPersonSmartass - A source of much of the book's humor.
20	* LittleProfessorDialog - Played for laughs. Consider the following speech from Paul when the kids are hiding behind a bush:
21	-->'''Paul:''' We can either crawl, walk, or run to the window. Crawling takes the most time, but has the lowest risk of being spotted. Walking takes longer, but makes no noise, and increases the risk that we will be seen. Running is the fastest, but also the noisiest. Now let's vote.
22	* NoNameGiven - The main character.
23	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness - Paul occasionally straddles the line or crosses it, depending on whom you ask. Most of his dialog, though, sounds like it could come from a regular kid who happens to have a form of Asperger's. (Especially the random details he sometimes gives)
24	* SnoopingLittleKid - Naturally.
25	* WeNeedToGetProof - The driving point of the story.

Context Literature / ASpyInTheNeighborhood