The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep (Seems) | 
 enlarge | Authors: John Hulme, Michael Wexler
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 146284
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3
ISBN: 1599901293
EAN: 9781599901299
ASIN: 1599901293
Publication Date: September 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: New and unused. Gift-giving quality. Coming at you FAST from student-sellers. You get your book AND help us pay off our tuition.
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Product Description
Twelve-year-old Becker Drane has definitely got the coolest job of any seventh grader in Highland Park, New Jersey. He works as a Fixer for The Seems. From the Department of Weather to the Department of Sleep, The Seems is a secret organization that makes sure our world keeps running—and more importantly, sticks to The Plan that’s been made for it. But The Plan, and The Seems for that matter, would be nothing without the people in it, and that’s where Becker Drane comes in. When a Glitch is reported in the Department of Sleep, Becker is dispatched to Fix it, but he’s not so sure this is a routine mission. Could the Bed Bugs, who are behind our Worst Nightmares, be responsible for the problems? Or maybe it’s The Tide, an underground organization bent on destroying The Seems? No matter what, Becker’s in for quite an adventure, and it’ll take all his training, a little luck, and the coolest Tools™ known in (or out of) the Seems to Fix the problem.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
Opens the door to the next book series you'll become addicted to February 20, 2008
THE SEEMS: THE GLITCH IN SLEEP by John Hulme and Michael Wexler introduce us to Becker Drane, a seemingly average 12-year-old with a wholly unaverage job: he gets to fix the World. As one of the youngest Fixers in a parallel world known as The Seems, Becker is responsible for repairing everyday problems that go wrong in the World as you and I know it. Faulty rainstorms, bad dreams... If something goes wonky, you can bet there's a team in The Seems who's on it to make things right again.
Having worked his way up in the ranks, Becker finds himself on his first Mission as a Fixer --- and it's a doozy. A Glitch, one of the worst types of problems to crop up, runs rampant in the Department of Sleep, keeping the World from catching any shut-eye. Despite his junior status, Becker throws himself into the Mission and soon finds himself with more trouble than he bargained for. A rash decision leads to his suspension, forcing Becker to try to redeem himself and (hopefully) determine how (or even if) this recent run of problems is linked to The Tide, a shady organization dedicated to undoing everything The Seems attempts to uphold.
With an imagination hopped up on a dozen cans of Red Bull, Hulme and Wexler take no prisoners in creating Becker's unique world and its clockwork cousin, the realm of The Seems. Reminiscent of the works of Jonathan Stroud and Jasper Fforde, this book makes use of amusing footnotes, a jargon-laden glossary and a guide to the unique tools wielded by the Fixers in their day-to-day routine.
THE GLITCH IN SLEEP has the toughest job as the first book in the series: it needs to set up the world and make it believable and fun. The authors take that challenge and create an infinitely memorable environment that will set the stage for Becker's further adventures. Although most every dilemma gets resolved by book's end, we can only hope that future installments will add more dimension to the characters and provide details about the mysterious Tide.
For fans of adventure and imagination that barrel along at a breakneck pace, THE SEEMS: THE GLITCH IN SLEEP opens the door to the next book series you'll become addicted to.
--- Reviewed by Brian Farrey (Emohawk9000@gmail.com)
Fascinate your Grandchildren December 16, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
THE SEEMS
As a grandparent thinking of books to fascinate the hearts and minds of grandchildren, "The Seems" is high on my list. Like Winnie-the-Pooh sixty or so years ago (I hate to admit it), this book has the capacity to feed the imagination of an entire generation of young people. And like Winnie the Pooh, behind the wondrous child's tale lies an adult perspective that is full of tender humor, irony, and an appealing philosophy of life.
Becker Drane is a twelve year old boy from Highland Park, New Jersey who, having applied for the "Best Job in the World," finds himself a "Fixer" in the "Seems," the invisible world behind our own that keeps things here on earth running according to the "Plan." When a Glitch occurs in the Department of Sleep, and no one on earth is getting the shut-eye they need, Becker gets the call to "Fix" the situation. In the highly competent company of senior Fixer Cassiopia Lake, an engaging and gutsy twenty-some year old girl, he sets out to save the world. The adventure is fast paced and taut enough to keep young readers on the edge of their chairs. Adults will love the sophisticated humor, word play, and above all the deeper human values which, for a reader like me, are the book's strongest selling point.
Tony Gaenslen
Good story, big laughs December 1, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is funny, exciting, and tenderhearted. Becker Drane is a great hero and the wordplay and characterizations are terrific. Don't miss it.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too November 30, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I had to sign some kind of form at the front of this book before reading it, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you any of this...but here goes.
Imagine that The World we know is constructed somewhere else. The sunset is painted daily, the world's rain is regulated through a huge water tank, and a Good Night's Sleep is packaged, processed, and sent to you nightly, with a specially built dream enclosed just for you. Beyond the In-Between, every detail of the world is carefully fashioned by workers in The Seems.
When Becker Drane was nine years old, he filled out an application for "The Best Job in the World" on a lark. Three years later, he's a newly promoted Fixer for The Seems eagerly awaiting his first mission. However, the one he receives is tougher than most--to fix a Glitch that is ravaging the Department of Sleep.
The World is in peril as The Chain of Events that depends on the delivery of the night's dreams grows in danger of slipping. Becker must use all of his skills and training to find the Glitch before a Ripple Effect occurs, undoing all of the careful work of The Seems and ripping the very Fabric of Reality away.
Humorous and exciting, this first book left me eager for more from this new series, and you can be sure I'll be reading the rest.
As long as I can get past the red tape next time...
Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose
fun read November 3, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Written by childhood friends, John Hulme and Michael Wexler, The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep (Bloomsbury, 2007), is a Matrix look at the The Truman Show for middle school boys. In fact, both times I tried to read it one of my boys stole it and read it before I could. Main character Becker Drane applies for a job at the age of nine, and is selected for a top secret position in the world behind our world, called The Seems. He joins a cadre of chosen applicants callled The Fixers, whose job is to fix problems in our world. I love it that the team includes an eighty-plus year old woman, a middle age man, a teen surfer...a real mixed bag of characters who rely on one another at some point in the story.
The book uses double entendres, cliches, puns and well-chosen names that will produce groans and rolled eyes in some readers and guffaws in others. It's a great read for kids who love word play and imaginative fantasy+adventure stories.
My children loved the non-sequential nature of the book, but it took me by surprise.
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