Teen Boat! the Race for Boatlantis

July 15, 2015
The Teen Boat graphic novels have such a perfect premise that they almost don't read as parody. The main character of the series turns into a boat when he gets water in his ear. It's not much sillier than the Ranma 1/2 comics, whose characters can switch gender or turn into pandas. But the concept is so hilarious that no story could possibly live up to it. Where do you go after someone has turned into a boat? In this case, Teen Boat joins the football team, competes in a boat race, and tries to find other boats like him. It's engaging enough but not especially funny. There are, of course, puns, and they're all unforgivable. ("I've always been the boat of everyone's jokes.") A greater problem than bad puns is that Teen Boat's actions are often indefensible. He passes over his best friend to date a cheerleader, then immediately asks his friend to dump her date and dance with him. The plot moves much too slowly, but sometimes the book is exactly as ridiculous as it ought to be. When Teen Boat is stranded in the middle of a dry football field, with a tiny team uniform on his prow, even a terrible pun can't spoil the joke. Bright spots aside, this parody of self-obsessed teen protagonists is so successful it gives readers no cause to root for the hero. (Graphic fantasy. 12-15)

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September 1, 2015

Gr 5-8-Teen Boat, a teen boy who can transform into a yacht, returns for another adventure in this sequel to Teen Boat! (Clarion, 2012). When given the chance to live full-time as a boat in Boatlantis with his submarine father, he is torn. Is he a boat or a boy? Teen Boat also finds a nemesis in TeenBot, a boy who's part-boy, part-robot, and part captain's chair. Then Teen Boat finds out that his best friend Joey descends from a boat's mortal enemy: icebergs. Older, savvier readers may not embrace the goofy concept, but younger tweens and teens will enjoy the numerous boat puns and the bright, cheerful cartoon illustrations. With its wholesome hero and high school love triangles, this work is "Archie" (DC Comics) with boats. VERDICT A light, silly read with middle school appeal.-Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library

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