The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, Book 1: The Hero Revealed
Grade 4-7–This first book in a new series is great fun, and readers will zip through it faster than a speeding bullet. Ordinary Boy lives in Superopolis, where he appears to be the only citizen with no superpowers at all. Of course O Boy's friends don't have an easy time themselves. His best friend, Stench, possesses mighty strength, but every time he uses it he emits a…well, he lives up to his name. Halogen Boy can glow brightly, but unfortunately he's far from the brightest bulb in the box. The greatest of them all is the Amazing Indestructo, and O Boy is his greatest fan. But a strange plot involving collector cards, million-dollar promotional contracts, and Indestructo's greatest adversary, Professor Brain-Drain, shake O Boy's faith in his hero–in a hilarious way. Along the way, readers who are paying attention will see that O Boy might not be so ordinary after all. Boniface wields a cynical, but definitely kid-friendly, sense of humor, and Gilpin's illustrations are sharp and witty. Kids who love comic books, superhero animations, and graphic novels will enjoy this story.–Walter Minkel, New York Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.