My Video Game Ate My Homework

An incredible engineer, Dewey Jenkins, 13, struggles with “the other stuff” (“Numbers. Writing. Reading.”) due to dyslexia; in addition, a VR gaming console called the Infinity Lens has just randomly eaten his science fair project—a ketchup volcano—which represents his last chance at avoiding summer school. Dewey enlists his twin sister, Beatrice, and both of their best friends to venture through the Infinity Lens portal and retrieve the volcano. Hansen leans into the video game setting by emulating recognizable user interfaces: captioned portraits, character and item cards, and dials that denote enemy stats. In densely populated art, Hansen offers high levels of energy as the team faces off against a wide variety of creatures (skeletal bone rats, spidery pyrachnids, and more) en route to defeating the big boss. With Beatrice’s support, Dewey also begins to navigate his feelings about his abilities: “This isn’t about believing in myself.... This is who I am,” he tells her. Though secondary characters experience little development and the ending focuses more on technicalities than emotional thrust, fully realized backgrounds and expressive cartooning offer visual spark. Seeing Dewey succeed not in spite of but because of his abilities and ingenuity is deeply satisfying. Ages 8–12. [em](Apr.) [/em]