Sci-Fi Junior High

November 28, 2016
Kelvin Klosmo, the son of two brilliant scientists and the unwitting hero of this fun but disjointed extraterrestrial adventure, has a huge reputation to live up to. As the principal at his new school, Sciriustrati Fibronoculareus Junior High (aka Sci-Fi Junior High), reminds him on his first day: “I can’t even imagine what a genius you must be! We’re expecting incredible things from you, young man.” Kelvin thinks that his biggest problem will be maintaining the guise of being the “smartest kid in the galaxy,” until his community is threatened by an evil scientist. Kelvin scrambles to prove himself and save his friends and family, but weak characterizations and a jumbled narrative can make the story hard to follow as it bounces across the galaxy. Punchy black-and-white spot illustrations and comics sequences appear throughout, playing up the slapstick humor of this collaboration from the duo behind the Vordak the Incomprehensible series. For better or worse, sentences like “What? Zot? Play glormball against Dorn?” will indeed leave readers feeling like they’ve entered an unfamiliar alien landscape. Ages 8–12. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House.

November 1, 2016
Kelvin Klosmo goes to the wacky Sci-Fi Junior High.Kelvin has moved to a new intergalactic space station so that his genius parents can continue their important research. Kelvin is nervous about attending a new school. Everyone expects the product of two geniuses to be twice as smart, but Kelvin's brains haven't quite snapped into place just yet. The white human boy's classmates are a diverse crew of extraterrestrial life forms amusingly brought to life in Martin's comic panels. (The book's intraspecies diversity is not as rich as what's found in many other middle-grade sci-fi books, such as Stuart Gibbs' Moon Base Alpha series.) The book unfurls per middle school drama formula: there's an annoying principal, weird kids, and a pretty (nonhuman) girl, but absent is the character work that makes such James Patterson outings as Jacky Ha-Ha (with co-author Chris Grabenstein, 2016) or Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life (with co-author Chris Tibbetts, 2011) stand apart. This installment in Patterson's empire does not have that magic. Kelvin, his family, and his friends seem to have little interior life, and a subplot involving a nefarious ne'er-do-well goes nowhere. Echoes of comic books, Star Wars, and 1950s sci-fi classics resound, but their influence is not enough to make the book come alive. A cosmic misfire. (Science fiction. 8-10)

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January 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-Kelvin Klosmo is the son of two of the smartest scientists in the universe. His father, a famed robotics professor, and his mother, a renowned neuroscientist, are brought to the Galactic Space Hub to work on a top-secret project. Still adjusting to his new life aboard the Space Hub, Kelvin is transferred to Sciriustrati Fibronoculareus Junior High School. On his first day, Kelvin is immediately singled out: with great parents come great expectations, and everyone at school thinks Kelvin is a supergenius, too. The only problem is that Kelvin's brainiac powers haven't quite kicked in-a conflict that is overly emphasized. The point of view of Professor Erik M. Failenheimer, a villain whose goal is to bring down the Klosmo family, is interwoven with Kelvin's narrative. The illustrations flesh out secondary characters and will engage reluctant readers. At times, Kelvin's voice lacks authenticity and doesn't ring true to how kids speak. Jeffrey Brown's hilarious "Star Wars: Jedi Academy" series is a better example of sci-fi with "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"-style illustrations. VERDICT Fun, creative graphics carry a lackluster story. Consider purchasing for libraries with large budgets.-Jocelyn Charpentier, Acton-Boxborough Regional School District, MA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2016
Grades 4-7 Seegert mines tried-and-true tropes for this new addition to James Patterson's JIMMY imprint. Hardly has Kelvin Klosmo started middle school at the interstellar Galactic Science Hub than he's gotten caught up in a food fight, been stuffed into a space helmet by the local bully, and experienced other typical middle-school problems. Worse, though, the giant robot his brainiac parents invented is hijacked by power-mad custodian Erik Failenheimer. Zarfloots! Can Kelvin and his circle of new friends scotch the scenery-chewing villain's evil schemes of galactic domination before all schnort breaks loose? (Do you doubt it?) Along with frequent changes of typeface that break the print narrative up into more easily digestible segments, sheaves of cartoons in single panels, vignettes, and short sequences are interspersed throughout the text, boosting the comedic action into even higher orbit. A crowd-pleaser that, for a change, doesn't rely on megaviolence, poop jokes, and clueless grown-ups for laughs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)