Return to Augie Hobble

Starred review from March 16, 2015
What is happening to Augie Hobble? Despite obvious artistic talent (he liberally illustrates this summer-of-transformation story with his own drawings), he has flunked creative arts class and must redo his final project. He’s also obligated to work spearing garbage at Fairy Tale Place, a run-down amusement park managed by his father. Plans to while away the summer with
his best friend
evaporate and a
rendezvous with Cinderella, a park character played by a fellow middle schooler, results in a possible werewolf attack. At this point, Augie’s comic but conventional story takes unexpected turns. Pets go missing. Eerie entries appear in Augie’s journal. Hair sprouts in odd places. Is this puberty or something more sinister? A major tragedy occurs for which Augie feels responsible, but two-time Caldecott Honoree Smith, in his first novel, does an impeccable job of introducing heartbreak while keeping the mood light. Augie is a good-hearted kid whose wry humor makes him a companionable narrator. Readers may feel as
disoriented as Augie when Smith shifts from recognizable ground to add an otherworldly dimension, but it works because Augie deserves an ending that makes him whole again. Ages 8–12. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

Starred review from February 1, 2015
The award-bedizened illustrator offers up his first novel.Mildly offbeat setting aside, it all starts on recognizable ground. Son of the manager of a seedy theme park dubbed Fairy Tale Place, Augie faces both bullying from local thug Hogg Wills and summer school because he's failed Creative Arts ("Who fails Creative Arts?"). Also, dazzling classmate Juliana has joined the park's colorful cast of costumed "hosts" as Cinderella, and along with allergy-prone best buddy Britt, he discovers that building a treehouse-in a tree, at least-is harder than it seems. Readers set by this opening for a moderately amusing summer idyll are in for a series of unsettling shocks as Smith then proceeds to vigorously knock expectations askew. He chucks in sudden death, a rash of missing pets, initially garbled but increasingly coherent and revealing messages from the great beyond, clairvoyant visions, robbery, lycanthropy and even mysterious government agents. It takes Smith to keep what could become a hot mess percolating happily along toward a just conclusion. Portraits, collages, hand-drawn comics and other illustrations done in a range of styles add characteristically postmodern notes to this roller-coaster ride. Great fun, with hardly a trope or theme left unspun. (Fantasy. 10-13)

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March 1, 2015

Gr 4-6-Smith's first novel begins with a scattered and zany atmosphere. That's entirely appropriate, given its setting at a struggling New Mexico amusement park. It may, however, present as much of a problem in attracting and retaining readers as Fairy Tale Place has in luring in customers. Augie's failed his Creative Arts class at the aptly named Gerald R. Ford Middle School and must complete a project over the summer. His story is interspersed with his cartoon ideas for the assignment, which make it clear that Augie lacks decisiveness more than creativity. These pieces, along with frequent insertions of Smith's illustrations, break up the text in ways which will appeal to kids who enjoy art-heavy, journal-form novels. About a quarter of the way through, intersections of the folkloric and the paranormal combine to give a more coherent direction to the narrative, despite our view through the scrim of implausibility. Werewolves, UFOs, and communications from the world beyond are prominently featured, but it's the fate of Augie's best friend and Augie's struggle to cope with responsibility for it that deepen the book and make it more touching than it initially seems. VERDICT Readers who persevere through the broad comedy will find a story with heart within.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2015
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Smith huffs and puffs and blows the roof off his first novel. Augie Hobble is in for a wicked summer painting polka dots on the toad-shaped toadstools at his father's rundown theme park, Fairy Tale Place, while dodging bullies and retaking his failed creative arts class in summer school. There are some bright spots, though, in the form of his best friend Britt and the flirtatious new Cinderella talent at the park. What starts as a quirky summer read quickly morphs into something nearly impossible to explain, and that's not just a reference to Augie's belief that he is turning into a werewolf. Plot elements that include groan-worthy humor; paranormal mysteries; special, special federal agents; a desert chase; and sock-in-the-gut tragedy are interspersed with Augie's illustrated brainstorming journal of wacky projects for summer school. Augie documents his summer with a Polaroid camera that was left in the park's lost and found way back in the 1990sit takes cool pictures that look like Instagram. If this novel were normal, fans would be disappointed. Give it to readers who wish Bridge to Terabithia had been written by Polly Horvath. Bravo, Lane Smith!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)