Ignatius MacFarland: Frequenaut!
Grade 5–8—Ignatius MacFarland, a nerdy seventh grader who is constantly teased at school, doesn't just want to leave his hometown: he wants to be rescued by aliens and taken to another planet. When Iggy creates a rocket out of trash cans and accidentally gets caught inside it during a test run, he finds himself in a different world. Though the land formations are like home, the trees have thorns and there are strange creatures like giant praying mantises and three-legged armless gorillas. Iggy eventually runs into Karen, a teenager from his town who supposedly died in an explosion. She explains that they're in another frequency controlled by a former failed English teacher from Iggy's school. Karen is on a mission to free everyone from Mr. Arthur's dictatorship, and Iggy gets swept up with her. While the premise is highly original, the story lacks a good explanation of frequencies and a clear plot. The characters are mostly running from one crisis to the next, with little downtime in between. Ultimately, this fantasy/sci-fi adventure fails to take off.—Necia Blundy, Marlborough Public Library, MACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.