August 5, 2013
A frazzled boy named Daniel and his wildly energetic younger brother, Iggy, get mixed up in intergalactic shenanigans in this series opener from Allison (the Gilda Joyce, Private Investigator books). It all starts when Daniel befriends Alistair, the odd new kid next door, who has an extensive insect collection and whose spacecraft models actually fly. After Iggy eats bugs from Alistair’s collection, the tyke wakes up with insect-based superpowers, and Alistair reveals that he and his family are actually aliens studying the best ways to grow broccoli, a vital crop on their planet. A quick trip to Alistair’s spaceship confirms that Iggy’s powers can be subdued with a pacifier “made with the most advanced Blaronite technology,” but they may manifest in moments of stress. And so they do when neighborhood kid Chauncey makes trouble. Allison creates a comically put-upon older brother in Daniel in a lighthearted story that captures the chaos of everyday family life, superpowers or not. Moran’s spot illustrations and comics sequences (not seen in final form) appear throughout. Ages 7–9. Author’s agent: Douglas Stewart, Sterling Lord Literistic.
September 1, 2013
The author of the Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator series piles on the yuks in this slapstick science-fiction opener. Daniel is outraged that he suddenly has to share a bedroom with Iggy, his way-too-cute ("Why dis not working !!!! Dis make me so angwy!!!!"), not-quite-toilet-trained little brother. Wider disasters threaten, though, after Iggy swallows new neighbor Alistair's bug collection and begins to acquire insect powers and characteristics. It seems that Alistair and his parents are actually aliens from the planet Blaron, visiting Earth to gather new varieties of broccoli (which they call "frackenpoy") because that's all they can eat. Fortunately, Iggy's symptoms can be suppressed with a Human Normalizer, which looks like a pacifier. Unfortunately, the Blaronites have another device that combines Daniel's obnoxious friend Chauncey Morbyd and a cardboard carton into a robot that will eat the entire universe. Despite a bit of sibling reconciliation at the end, the plot, like the cast, is two-dimensional at best. Readers who relish silly names, broccoli jokes, domestic chaos and gross goo of various sorts in their fiction, as well as lots of robots and aliens, though, will definitely have no cause for complaint. Moran's frequent illustrations range from small views of popeyed cartoon faces to diagrams of DNA molecules and, for some incidents or punch lines, sequential panels. Labored, but it doesn't take psychic powers to see how this could be a crowd pleaser. (Science fiction. 9-11)
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April 1, 2014
Gr 2-5-Daniel doesn't get along with his younger brother, so he is not happy when he suddenly has to share his room with him. Iggy breaks his toys, cries at night, and tries to eat everything. The latter is exceptionally problematic when Daniel's new friend Alistair, an alien scientist, comes to visit and Iggy downs all of his specimens and becomes covered in the substance Alistair uses to extract DNA from the bugs. In a "Spiderman"-like twist, these insects cause myriad mutations in Iggy. When an attention-seeking, ill-mannered classmate comes over and fiddles with a space-aged monster transmuting watch, it will be up to Iggy and his new talents to save them all. A perfect science fiction book for beginning chapter-book readers, this story takes a familiar superhero riff and gives it its own twist. Readers with big families and small houses will sympathize with the constant compromises and difficulties of sharing a room, and a house, with younger siblings. The plot moves slowly in the beginning, making this a poor choice for reluctant readers despite the high-interest plot. For advanced beginning readers, the length and appropriate content make it a good choice. The black-and-white cartoons serve to break up the pages.-Devin Burritt, Wells Public Library, ME
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