Welcome back to Topsea, a coastal town full of mystery and wonder. The second book in the series from Disney Hyperion, Secrets of Topsea: The Extremely High Tide!, is now available wherever books are sold and gives readers even more comedic tales of friendship. This time around, we expand out view of the town with move viewpoints from Davy’s classmates.
While the first book (Secrets of Topsea: A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean) was mostly centered around the newest kid in town, Davy, this sequel more closely follows Talise. She has always been very in tune with the ocean and when it keeps sending her messages in bottles with schematics of ships, she feels compelled to build it. She enlists her entire community and claims that the ocean is trying to warn the town of an “Extremely high tide,” but few believe her.
The first book had excerpts throughout from a book called “Everything You Need to Know About Topsea,” which would often add comedic effect to the next chapter. The same theme continues here, although the excerpted book is also a sequel, “Everything Else You Need to Know About Topsea.” And comedically, nobody in town has read it because the shipment was lost at sea.
Topics highlighted in this volume include what’s at the end of the endless pier, the mysterious clam shortage, what your aura says about you, and spirit day (which is when you bring your spectral spirit with you to school). Most of these excursions lead to big laughs, but the charm of the story is the way the kids (and pigs) band together around Talise and help her build the boat that will help everyone during the extremely high tide, which is very much real.
Kir Fox and M. Shelley Coats have bottled up the formula that worked so well in the first book and produced another winning novel with Secrets of Topsea: The Extremely High Tide! The educational silliness of the school outings remind me of The Magic School Bus, but the weird mysteries of the town feel akin to Gravity Falls on the coast. You’ll learn more about mermaids in this volume (and sea apes) as well as narwhals and feral children.
Secrets of Topsea is a hilariously fun book series aimed at ages 8 to 12. Through funny adventures, kids learn about the ocean and also learn valuable lessons in friendship and the importance of family. It’s a wholesome comedic read that kids will love and I hope more secrets will be revealed in future volumes. Until then, readers can enjoy the mysteries solved in Secrets from Topsea: The Extremely High Tide!