Teen Tuesday: The Second Chance of Darius Logan by David F. Walker

Image: Scholastic Inc.

The Second Chance of Darius Logan by David F. Walker. 384 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., July, 2024 9781338826425. Review of arc courtesy of publisher. 

Life since being orphaned in "the attack" eight years earlier has not been easy for Darius Logan. He was abused by his uncle, then moved in and out of a series of foster homes. School went by the wayside as he struggled to survive. The struggle included petty theft and arrests. His caseworker is the only person in his life who sees any good in him. But even she cannot help when he's literally caught holding the bag in a drug bust. It wasn't just any drug though. It was eXXeLL, which if caught, carries a mandatory long prison sentence. The fact that Darius is under-age won't help him. The knowledge of this compels him to resist arrest, assault a police officer and flee. He is saved by none other than the superhero, Captain Freedom of the Super Justice Force.

Captain Freedom runs a program called Second Chance and proposes that Darius enter the program. This program is usually for ex-convicts, but Captain Freedom remembers Darius from a time before "the attack," when he was named Student of the Year. Not everyone is in favor of this, especially Chuck Maslon, who is rooting for Darius to fail.

While the novel's opening is quite atmospheric, the world building resorts to info-dumping as Darius goes through his training. Still, Darius is a likable character and slowly gains friends and trust in them and himself. 

This debut should have wide appeal in middle and high school libraries. I switched to reading it by ear about 2/3 of the way through and regretted the decision. The narrator's choice of voices and accents, though varied, did not appeal to me, especially his female voices, which were stereotypically simpering. 

Middle Grade Monday: Leon the Extraordinary by Jamar Nicholas

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Leon the Extraordinary by Jamar Nicholas and illustrated by Bonaia Rosado. 272 p. Extraordinary Leon #1. Graphix/ Scholastic, October, 2022. 9781338744163. (Review of finished copy borrowed from public library.)

Happy Monday! I am back to school after a week-long February break. It wasn't as productive as I wanted, but I got some of the chores done, attended a yoga class each day and took Boo for plenty of walks. The big news at school this morning is the anticipated snow day. Apparently, our area is bracing for six to eight inches! We'll see.

Middle Grade Monday features Leon the Extraordinary by Jamar Nicholas and illustrated by Bonaia Rosado. Middle school student Leon doesn't have two things he desires - a cell phone and superpowers. He lives in a city where superheroes and villains coexist and where all of his classmates have cell phones. He lives in an apartment with his single mom, who is a nurse and his best friend lives one floor down. Leon has fashioned a green super hero outfit complete with cape and a utility belt despite being teased as a loser by his ex-friend Clementine, who is a shape-shifter and heads the hall monitor squad. Leon is an upstander, one who is quick to defend his classmates against bullies. After Clementine humiliates Leon at her birthday party, her parents ground her and take away the cell phone she was to receive as a present. The following day at school, Leon notices that all the kids seem glued to their phones in a zombie-like state except for Clementine and him. He reluctantly teams up with her to get to the bottom of the zombie apocalypse.

The action is brisk in this brightly painted graphic novel and series beginner. There's plenty of humor as well as realistic school drama from weird lunches to weird classmates. Leon the Extraordinary is Mr. Nicholas' debut. I'm looking forward to being entertained in the next installment. 

Middle Grade Monday: Stuntboy, In the Meantime by Jason Reynolds.

Image: Simon & Schuster

Stuntboy, In the Meantime by Jason Reynolds. Illustrated by Raúl the Third. 272 p. Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/ Atheneum/ Simon & Schuster, November, 2021. 9781534418165. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Middle Grade Monday features Stuntboy, In the Meantime by Jason Reynolds. Portico Reeves has an active imagination and a lot of anxiety about things he has no control over. His parents are arguing, he's dealing with a bully and cares immensely for the residents in his apartment building aka the castle. The pace of this graphic novel hybrid is fast, with the action broken into ten "episodes" of his life as a superhero along with "commercial breaks" which offer sage advice. 

There's plenty of heart and humor in both the prose and the illustrations. Fans of the author & the illustrator will be delighted by this collaboration. More please. 

Middle Grade Monday: Miles Morales Shock Waves by Justin A. Reynolds. Illustrated by Pablo Leon.

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Miles Morales: Shock Waves (Original Spider-man graphic novel) by Justin A. Reynolds. Illustrated by Pablo Leon. 128 p. Graphix/ Scholastic Inc., June, 2021. 9781338648034. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Middle Grade Monday features Miles Morales: Shock Waves by Justin A. Reynolds. Miles Morales is just trying to get by in Brooklyn. He attends New Visions Academy boarding school by day and swings through the city streets stopping crime by night as Spider Man. When does this kid sleep? When a hurricane hits his mother's native Puerto Rico, she starts raising funds and Miles pitches in to help. Kyle, a new student, suggests that her  father might help. He gets his new employer to donate and then he goes missing. Two unusual interns also work at the company and were involved in a theft that Spider Man thwarted days earlier. Is there a connection between the girls, the rock they left behind, Kyle's father's disappearance AND the earthquake in Puerto Rico?

My knowledge of the Marvel Superhero Universe is paltry at best. That said, I enjoyed this graphic novel. Miles is a winning narrator, just trying to survive boarding school and figuring out what his art project will be. The art is energetic and vibrant and one of the final panels reveals a twist, which is presumably the basis for a future installment. I can't wait to see what my students think and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

Middle Grade Monday: Dog Man: Grime and Punishment by Dav Pilkey

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Dog Man: Grime and Punishment by Dav Pilkey. Dog Man series #9. 240 p. Graphix/ Scholastic Inc., September, 2020. 9781338535624. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Monday! I got the cleaning bug yesterday and spent much of it going through the drawers in my bathroom vanity. I threw so much crap out! Oh the things one collects over the years! The laundry room is next. I also took Boo for a three-mile walk and let him loose to run in the woods. How's your break going?

Middle Grade Monday features Dog Man: Grime and Punishment by Dav Pilkey. Book #9 of this series is still fresh, wacky, punny and funny. Dog Man has earned the ire of the mayor, who forces the Chief to fire him. Dog Man goes into such a funk without his badge that his friends concoct a plan for him to fight crime. That backfires and the mayor jails Dog Man and the entire police force leaving Grampa to continue his crime spree as the Crazed Crud! Oh no!

This series is wildly popular in my library as well as in my public library cooperative. It owns 274 copies of this installment with only 62 available! For good reason - they are accessible, hilarious and colorful. I have multiple copies of most of the books in this series in my school library and you should too! 

Keep 'em coming Mr. Pilkey!

Teen Tuesday: Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang

Image: DC Comics

Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang with art by Gurihiru240 p. DC, May, 2020. 9781779504210. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Teen Tuesday features Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang with art by Gurihiru. Mr. Yang brings a radio show from the 1940s to vivid life in this graphic novel. The Lee family has moved from Chinatown to Metropolis so that Dr. Lee can start a new job with the Health Department. The Lee children, Tommy and Roberta set about trying to make new friends. Tommy is outgoing and willing to let overt and covert ethnic slurs slip. Roberta, though shy and awkward, feels the need to call out these micro-aggressions. Tommy's an ace pitcher and is asked to join the local baseball team by Jimmy Olsen, who coaches the rec center team when he's not working as a cub reporter for The Daily Planet. The team's pitcher is not at all happy about this change. He and his mother live with his uncle, who is head of the local Klan of the Fiery Kross and they are not at all happy about the Lees move to Metropolis. And then there's Superman, who is fighting crime in Metropolis but also wondering about his own identity and where he fits in. 

The art, energetic and expressive, moves the story along briskly. Eleven pages of author notes and historical photos provide historical context in the back matter. Fans of the superhero and the graphic novel format will not want to miss this!

Teen Tuesday: Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu

Image: Penguin Random House

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu. DC Icons #2. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~9 hours. Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, January, 2018. 9780525525561. 

Teen Tuesday features book #2 of the DC Icons series in which popular YA authors imagine the teen years/ coming-of-age of four popular DC superheroes. Batman: nightwalker was written by Marie Lu, whose "Legend" trilogy is a TMS favorite. 

Billionaire Bruce Wayne is about to turn eighteen and will inherit his family's wealth. A terrorist organization called the Nightwalkers is targeting Gotham City's wealthiest citizens to murder and electronically steal their fortunes. The Gotham City PD captured Madeleine Wallace and imprisoned her in Arkham Asylum but she is not talking - except to Bruce Wayne, who happens to be doing community service for interfering with a police investigation. The police brass enlist Bruce's help. But can he trust either side?

This was perhaps the most intriguing of the four DC Icons books I read. Still, it felt a bit juvenile, cops and robber-ish, as in, improbable coincidences and plot holes. The new-to-me narrator was engaging and paced his performance well. The action was nearly non-stop making this plot-driven book appealing to those readers who crave page-turners. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Superman by Matt de la Peña

Image: Penguin Random House

Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Peña. DC Icons series #4. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~ 7 hours. Narrated by Andrew Eiden. Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, March, 2019. 9781984832610. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library. Own hc.)

Teen Tuesday features Superman: dawn breaker by Matt de la Peña. This is the fourth book in the DC Icons series where YA authors weigh in with origin stories of sorts of well, four DC superheroes. Superman: dawn breaker tells of high school senior Clark Kent's coming of age. He always knew he had powers that none of his peers had, but now his strength is scaring him. He's afraid that he will do more harm than good when he's called upon to use them because he has trouble harnessing his power. At the same time, immigrant workers are disappearing and a corporation has been buying up the area farms. de la Peña cleverly blends contemporary immigration issues as well as other ethical dilemmas here. The thoughtful parts are punctuated with actions scenes that should keep fans of the the superhero engaged. 

Eiden was a new-to-me narrator when I listened to his performance of The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle. My Goodreads note said I was delighted with the performance. I didn't love his growly delivery in this one and his female character vocalizations were annoying. 

Middle Grade Monday and Audio Review: Miles Morales: Spider Man by Jason Reynolds

Miles Morales: Spider Man by Jason Reynolds. Unabridged audiobook on six compact discs. 414 minutes. Read by Guy Lockard. Books on Tape/ Listening Library, 2017. 9780525527144. (Review of audiobook borrowed from public library. Own hardcover.)

Middle Grade Monday features Miles Morales: Spiderman by Jason Reynolds. This Marvel Comic adaptation is set in Brooklyn and features Afro-Latino teenager Miles, who, thanks to his uncle, was bitten by a mechanical spider and now possesses superpowers. He feels some anger toward his uncle and guilt over his death. At school his spidey sense has sent him on some false alarms and has gotten him in trouble with his vile history teacher, who seems to have it in for him. This novelization of the Marvel hero is an action-packed page-turner; yet it also manages to create a vivid Brooklyn setting and nuanced characters. 

Guy Lockard has narrated most of Reynolds' audiobooks and he does a fine job here. He has a nice variety of voices and his pacing is brisk. Miles Morales belongs in every school and public library. 

Bucky and Stu vs. the Mikanikal Man

Bucky and Stu vs. the Mikanikal Man by Cornelius Van Wright. unpgd. Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Young Readers Group, July, 2015. 9780399164279. (Review from finished copy courtesy of Blue Slip Media)

My, my. How did I miss adorable homage to imaginative play? Many thanks to Blue Slip Media for remedying this. 

Bucky and Stu, two adorable bffs clad in homemade superhero outfits (the yellow rubber gloves are a hilarious touch) do battle against a variety of homegrown baddies delightfully constructed of various and sundry household items, such as boxes, vacuums and mops. I actually had this flashback to the clubhouse my brother made way back in the time of dinosaurs when I was young. That rickety contraption was a fort, a war bunker, a ship, and even a space ship and provided hours of play when our mother kicked the six of us out of the house for the day to find our own entertainment.

Bucky and Stu are totally in sync, totally engaged in their story, which is collaborative and a perfect outlet for their seemingly boundless energy, until it's time for lunch. Then food is the only thing on their minds. Once recharged, Bucky shows Stu, Mikanikal Man, a super-duper robot villain that only needs a power source for them to do battle with. A rain storm drives the boys indoors and a lightning strike powers Mikanikal Man. 

The next day, the boys are puzzled when they find that Mikanikal Man is missing, then terrified when he looms over them. Have the superheroes met their match?

The water color and pencil illustrations perfectly capture the boys' frenetic energy as does the ever-changing type-face. The illustrations have a graphic novel feel and contain lots of fun little details. This is definitely one to ham up during read aloud. The group I read the book to loved it and they all wanted to look at the book again to chuckle over the pictures.

Bucky and Stu vs. the Mikanikal Man might just inspire some free play in the library and, hopefully out of doors instead of in the basement on electronic devices. 

Don't miss this gem. Here's hoping to seeing some more of this dynamic duo in action.

ETA 6/29: Thanks to Mr. Van Wright for commenting! Please visit Bucky and Stu's website for cool animations, a curriculum guide and more!