A Captain Underpants
for the older bunch, Kraft’s (Lenny and Mel
) comedic riff on male adolescence is as nerdy and hormonally driven as they come. Written like an illustrated journal of sorts with titles for each page-length entry and in often fragmented sentences, the book reads like a haphazard, stream-of-consciousness rant—one 10th-grader’s perspective on high school in a small Massachusetts town. “My last name is Mayo, and I can’t help but wonder if it were something different, would the Donkeys [the jocks] just ignore me? Maybe. But instead I’m Miracle Wimp,” the narrator reports. He comments on everything from the varieties of wedgiesand the tortures of gym class to the difference between the cool kids and the dorks, to the nerves and eventual irritation that accompany his first date, to going to (and actually having fun at) the prom. Kraft rarely dips below the surface on any of these issues, preferring instead to try to see the humor (or the pathos) in it all. While girls may not get into the narrator’s sensibility, boys who enjoy series of short takes—especially those infused with slapstick and sarcasm—will find this virtually plotless book a quick and entertaining read. Illustrations not seen by PW
. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)
