Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy!

November 1, 2016

Gr 1-3-A young boy playing a handheld video game as the character Super Rabbit Boy works his way through many colorful pages of peril, navigating a sea of Robo-Crabs, biting Robo-Fish, quicksand, Robo-Snakes, and the very scary Mount Boom and trying to save Singing Dog and all of Animal Town from King Viking and his robot army. The point of view quickly shifts from a third-person perspective of the boy in his messy bedroom to a first-person perspective as the boy plays his game, then flashes between these two viewpoints throughout. Brightly colored illustrations of the game screen move the story along rather quickly. With short chapters and full-color pages, this first installment in a new series will draw in young independent readers. VERDICT A strong addition to most chapter book collections, especially where there are gamers.-Lindsay Persohn, University of South Florida, Tampa

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2016
Grades 1-3 Can Super Rabbit Boy, the greatest hero of all time, advance through six levels to reach Boom Boom Factory, defeat evil King Viking, save Singing Dog, and bring fun back to Animal Town? With illustrations galore and a graphic-novel-style presentation, this fast-paced story takes readers inside the handheld device of a young gamer. The first in the Press Start! series, this transitional chapter book takes its cue from retro video games, like Sonic the Hedgehog. The digital illustrations use bright neon colors and pixelated shapes. Appropriate for its audience, only a few lines of text appear on each page. While the narrative font is easy to read, the pixelated all-caps game font might be a bit challenging for less-experienced readers. Word repetition is built into the story, as Super Rabbit Boy dies repeatedly, forcing him to retry levels. Although the abrupt conclusion isn't as satisfying as the buildup, the gaming gimmick and graphic layout is sure to appeal to many readers, especially reluctant ones.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2017
In these early chapter books, Super Rabbit Boy is unaware he exists within a video game. Bright pixelated illustrations mimic video-game play, but the books occasionally pull back to reveal the child controlling the game in more cartoony scenes. This general conceit of a story within a story following video-game conventions will appeal to young gamers and encourage independent reading.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)