Saturday, November 11, 2017

Fall Reading 2017 Recess Warriors: Hero Is a Four-letter Word

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Does it ever seem to you that a school playground is its own little world? Well, actually, it is many small worlds side by side and sometimes they overlap. Scrap just wants to defend the meek from having their lunch money stolen, but when zombiefying cooties get loose in the yard, he calls for help. His best friend Yoshi has mad jumprope skills (imagine Jackie Chan with a rope in "Shanghai Noon"), and Clinton leaves the Badlands (his side of the yard), to lend a hand. But even if they survive the zombie apocalypse, there is always another threat out there. It might be the pirates from the Wreck Yard kidnapping Yoshi, or perhaps the strange group of kids who always play house have wandered into the wrong area. You just never know. 

With all the entertaining groups out there - cowboys, pirates, superheroes, etc. - and the complicated relationships between the main characters, readers must pay close attention to make sure they don't miss important clues about what is really going on. Does Scrap see Yoshi as a sidekick or a best friend? What happened between Scrap and Clinton to end their friendship? Who is the Pirate Capt'n? Where did the cooties of doom come from?

The action is nonstop and cleverly blends the real playground with the imagined landscapes of the different groups. Each character is distinctive and unique, whether it is Juliet and her perfect hair or Clinton with his cowboy hat and John Wayne accent. And the kids have all this fun without any devices or technology - pure power of imagination.

Great for graphic novel fans of Doug Ten Napel or similar creators.

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