Superheroes Don't Eat Veggie Burgers

October 19, 2015
In this empowering coming-of-age story, Charlie Burger’s only goal as sixth grade begins is to get through the year without any trouble, a goal scorned by his best friend Franki. “You’ve got a lot of heart—but zero guts,” she tells him. Franki believes in standing up to bullies like Boomer Bodbreath, who singles out Charlie on the first day, pantsing
him in front of the whole cafeteria. While Charlie may tend to be passive in his everyday life, on the pages of the journal given to him by his quirky science teacher, he dreams up the adventures of “Dude Explodius, Ruler of Everything,” who uses his superpowers to turn Charlie’s younger sister into a dog and put bullies in their place. But when things Charlie writes seem to start having real-life repercussions, he wonders if the journal might be magic. While pranks and pratfalls are front and center, debut author Kelley is attentive to the angst and confusing changes of middle school, whether it’s Charlie’s growing crush on Franki or the harsh realities of Franki’s home life. Ages 9–12.

October 1, 2015
A middle school student solves his problems with a seemingly magic journal. Charlie Burger's middle school experience begins badly. After getting pantsed on the first day and getting weird mixed signals from his (female) best friend, Franki, Charlie is about to write off the whole thing and wait for a fresh start in high school. But things start to turn around when he writes his first story in a journal given to him by his goofy science teacher. The fictional exploits of Dude Explodius start to mirror Charlie's own social life: coincidence or magic? Kelley's debut is an ambitious one, mixing typical middle school concerns like bullies and hormones with relatively more complex issues. Franki's home life involves a drunken stepfather and utility cutoffs, both of which the author smartly presents with bold simplicity instead of exploiting them for sentiment. The relationship between Charlie and Franki is the novel's highlight, shining so brightly it's easy to forgive its shortcomings. The bully storyline plays out like far too many others of its type, and the journal's magical back story is muddled. The novel's most bothersome device is Charlie's grandmother, who conveniently shows up at all the right moments to dispense advice and then disappear. A sweet exploration of an evolving friendship burdened by some tiresome tropes; should Kelley focus on the former and move past the latter, she will do well. (Fiction. 10-14)

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November 1, 2015

Gr 4-7-Charlie's career in middle school is off to a rocky start when the eighth-grade bully, Boomer, destroys his lunch. To make matters worse, Charlie's best friend Franki, who's a girl, tries to stick up for him. As far as Charlie's concerned, that's the height of embarrassment. Then Mr. P, the science teacher, gives every student a leather-bound notebook with the instruction to write stories from their gut because, he says, "Words can be powerful. Believe in their magic, and anything can happen." Charlie invents a superhero, Dude Explodius, and peppers his story with thinly disguised characterizations of real people in his life, such as his little sister, the soccer coach who's always on him, and Boomer. Charlie is shocked and a little scared when the stories begin to come true. His younger sister now thinks she's a dog, and Boomer suddenly decides to strip naked in school. Charlie, a good guy at heart, scrambles for his notebook to do a few quick rewrites when the stories threaten to get out of hand. Then there's Franki, whose home life is the pits. She's beginning to act more like a "real girl," and Charlie is confused about his feelings for her. The story is funny and, with the exception of the fantastical notebook elements, mostly realistic, with well-defined major and minor characters. VERDICT A solid read for tweens who enjoy a light dash of magic grounded in realistically based, humorous school stories.-Nancy P. Reeder, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, SC

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