The Astounding Broccoli Boy

Ewan Goddard narrates with gusto. Everyday Rory faces his nemesis, Tommy-Lee, at school. Then, one day, something strange happens--they both turn green. What's more, Rory seems to have developed a super-charged brain, and Tommy-Lee the ability to access buildings while sleepwalking. Goddard handles the main characters seamlessly and keeps the two distinct, especially Rory, who exudes all the bravado, wimpiness, doubt, and confidence that specific moments in the story require. Goddard also gives added personality to a flamboyant array of secondary characters and delivers the narrative with tongue-in-cheek drollness. Together, Rory and Tommy-Lee have outlandish nighttime escapades in the streets of London. Who knows what can happen! A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

June 8, 2015
A cat flu epidemic (dubbed “Killer Kittens” by the media) has England in
hysteria after 12-year-old Rory Rooney turns a “light broccoli green.” Hospitalized for fear of contagion, Rory is horrified to learn that his equally green roommate is Tommy-Lee Komissky, a kickboxing champ who has terrorized Rory at school. A quick thinker, Rory determines that the skin tone they share with the Hulk and Green Goblin suggests a clear diagnosis: they have become superheroes. (Rory is further convinced after he apparently
teleports to save his sleepwalking roommate from a rooftop fall.) The sleepwalking episodes launch the duo into London after dark, where they innocently break into Buckingham Palace, free all the zoo
animals (collecting some penguin pals), and befriend the prime minister. In an afterword, Boyce (Cosmic) reveals his inspiration for this kooky, charming tale as the medieval legend of the green children of Woolpit, but the humorous hijinks are decidedly Dave Barry-esque. A lengthy novel told in short chapters, it also offers up a message worth embracing: “The thing that makes you different,” Rory concludes, “is the thing that makes you Astounding.” Ages 8–12.

Starred review from July 1, 2015

Gr 4-6-When Rory Rooney, the smallest boy in his year and sadly the target of bullies including Grim Komissky, suddenly turns green on a class trip, he is blamed and ridiculed before a helicopter whisks him to a London hospital. Fearful he could be contagious, doctors aren't taking any chances while the "Killer Kittens" virus is ravaging England. Rory is dismayed to learn he is stuck in quarantine, being watched like he's a fish in a bowl, with the only other known sufferer of the mysterious green affliction-his arch nemesis, Grim (real name Tommy-Lee). Hoping their greenness means they are secretly superheroes, Rory and Tommy-Lee become convinced they have acquired superpowers. Rory is positive his brain now works at 200% capacity and that he can "slightly" teleport, while Tommy-Lee seems to be able to unlock coded doors while sleepwalking. Boyce has woven a quirky and madcap adventure full of resplendent British humor and colloquialisms. Rory and Grim band together, escaping from the hospital during the evenings, encountering loyal penguins, becoming entangled in an unfortunate royal hostage situation, and uncovering another green child-Koko. As the trio work to discover the cause of their mysterious color, they also learn what makes a true friend. VERDICT Humorous and fast-paced, this distinctive tale with well-developed characters will appeal to those readers who have ever searched for their own superpowers.-Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
Not even Rory Rooney's mum's book Don't Be Scared, Be Prepared can ready her son for the sandwich-squashing, kickboxing bully "Grim" Komissky. Worse still, there's not a word in the handbook about what to do when a student's skin turns broccoli green on a school field trip to Wales. Rory is the puniest boy in year seven, so, sadly, he's used to bullying. But he's of Irish-Guyanan descent, with "dark normal" skin, and decidedly not accustomed to being green. When he finds himself in the isolation ward under scientific scrutiny in London's Woolpit Royal Teaching Hospital, he suspects that due to his newly minted "200 percent brain" he might suddenly be a superhero like the Green Lantern, an agreeable fantasy marred only by the fact that his archenemy Grim is also green...and locked up with him. The slow-growing friendship of the "Broccoli Boys" (who repeatedly escape at night and roam the London streets in hypoallergenic pajamas to wreak havoc or right wrongs) is both hilarious and touching. The snappy dialogue, gorilla encounter, truck theft, and take-charge girl sidekick named Koko Kwok keep it hopping. Cottrell Boyce, of Millions (2004), mocks neurotic adults, the quinoa craze, and media fearmongering in this funny, sentimental, thematic smorgasbord of a novel that serves up equal helpings of satire and compassion. (afterword) (Fiction. 9-14)

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