Middle School Mayhem

May 15, 2017
Max Crumbly is back, blundering through his second misadventure. When readers last saw the white middle schooler, he had just plunged out of the school's "vast, labyrinth-like" ventilation system onto the pizza ordered by the three bumbling, white crooks who have taken advantage of the three-day weekend to execute the most incompetent computer heist ever. They are fortunate that it's dimwitted Max who's locked in with them. Unbeknownst to them, however, his new, smart friend Erin, also white, is on the phone with Max and has hacked her way into the school computer and now controls all its systems. With Erin's help, it should be easy for Max to thwart the crime, retrieve his father's precious comic book, and escape the building. Alas, it is not. As in series opener Locker Hero (2016), Max's journal provides a play-by-play of the episode (including cartoons of scenes he could not have witnessed), elongated by digressions and larded with vomit and excrement jokes. Also as before, Max's faux hand-lettered account features cross-outs and emendations that make little to no sense. A couple of well-paced cartoon-only sequences offer effective (if gross) slapstick, but they cannot compensate for the overall unfunniness of the caper. Kids who want to see this sort of adventure done well should opt for Varian Johnson's Jackson Greene books; kids who are charmed by puke jokes may find this mildly diverting. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)

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July 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-The first volume of this series concluded with Max landing on the pizza of the villains who were stealing the school's computers. This next installment follows his attempts to retrieve his father's prize comic book and thwart the thieves before his partner in high jinks, Erin, calls the police. Caught in the school building after hours because a school bully trapped him in a locker, Max now tries to capture the leisurely and incompetent criminals by sliming them with cookie dough, enticing them up a gym rope ladder tied to a fan, and luring one into a bathroom stall that explodes into a poop fountain. Along the way, he relays anecdotes about previous mishaps and connects further with his crush and technical adviser, Erin. Max also struggles with his asthma and gets in trouble at home because of his adventures. This notebook-style novel includes crossed-out text (when Max tries to edit his own story), rap lyrics, jokes about bodily functions, and digs at the insufficiencies of the school building and the criminals' abilities. The computer thieves are still on the loose at the end, so another entry can be expected. VERDICT Student demand will make this purchase a necessity. Those who prefer a bit more plot and character development may find Tommy Greenwald's "Charlie Joe Jackson" or Nate Peirce's "Big Nate" titles to be equally amusing but more substantial reads.-Karen Yingling, Blendon Middle School, Westerville, OH

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