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|---|---|---|
Searching... Salem Main Library | J Lyga, B. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic Lyga, B. 2010 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Critically acclaimed YA author Barry Lyga makes his Scholastic middle-grade debut with a superhero story turned on its head.
Kyle Camden knows exactly where he was the night Mighty Mike arrived: sneaking around the fallow field behind Bouring Middle School, preparing one of his most ingenious pranks yet.
Which is why he couldn't tell anyone where he was. Or what he saw.
Those lights everyone saw in the sky weren't tiny meteors burning up in the atmosphere. They were some kind of strange, supercooled plasma that bathed the entire field - including Kyle - in alien energies.
Author Notes
Barry Lyga was born on September 11, 1971. He received a BA in English from Yale University in 1993. Before becoming a full-time author, he worked in the comic book industry for ten years. His first young adult novel, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, was published in 2006. His other works include Boy Toy, Hero-Type, Goth Girl Rising, I Hunt Killers, After the Red Rain, and as the Archvillain series for middle-grade readers.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Sixth-grader Kyle is smart, popular, and the planner of high-quality pranks. Then an encounter with a mysterious "space plasma" leaves him with cosmic intellect, super-strength, and the ability to fly. Kyle loves his new skills, but decides it's safest to keep them under wraps. However, the plasma has brought something else as well-a strange boy whom Kyle strongly suspects is an alien. Mighty Mike has superpowers too-but he isn't shy about exercising them in public. Mike quickly becomes a sensation with adults as well as kids, even though his good deeds don't always go smoothly. Kyle resents Mike taking over his top-dog status and suspects that the newcomer may have more sinister schemes in mind. He plans a super prank to expose him, but things get disastrously out of hand. There is a subtle underlying message about perception vs. reality. Kyle is not a particularly admirable character. He is self-centered and frequently uses his newfound powers to manipulate people. Much of his vaunted popularity seems to rest on his ability to humiliate others, especially in setting up grudge pranks on request. His crowd is quick to switch allegiance when a new sensation comes along. The author takes some sly digs at popular culture as well. The question of Mike's true identity is left unresolved. Is he an earnest, if somewhat naive superhero or are Kyle's rather cynical suspicions on track? Who is the good guy and who is really the archvillain? Tune in next time....-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Comic book fans in particular will appreciate this clever origin story, first in a new series. Twelve-year-old prankster Kyle is making mischief at the middle school football field the night a plasma storm falls to earth. After being "bathed in the energy of the storm," he gains amazing superpowers, like heightened intelligence and the ability to fly. He later learns that a boy was found after the storm. Everyone in town assumes this stranger is "a normal kid with superpowers and amnesia," anointing "Mighty Mike" a hero after he uses his powers to extinguish a fire and save kids' lives. But as his memories of the plasma storm return, jealous Kyle is suspicious of the do-gooder's motives, believing it his duty "to expose him for what he is and drive him away." Lyga (Goth Girl Rising) laces his story with ample humor, from the persnickety AI sidekick Kyle makes from his iPod to his failed Pants Laser prank. Readers will find plenty to ponder, from guessing Mike's true motivations to debating whether Kyle is a hero-or a villain in the making. Ages 9-12. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Intelligent, popular, egotistical prankster Kyle finds himself with superpowers after celestial plasma lands on Earth, bringing with it an amnesiac superhuman named Mike. Rather than exposing Mike for the extraterrestrial that he is, Kyle goes out of his way to become Mike's nemesis. The entertaining antihero narrative reads like an elaborate backstory for the real adventures yet to come in future volumes. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Twelve-year-old Kyle Camden was an intelligent prankster before getting caught in a plasma storm (NOT a meteor shower) late one night while setting up a practical joke. Now he's super-intelligent and super-strong, and he can fly. Unfortunately, the plasma storm gave similar powers (and amnesia) to "Mike," another 12-year-old, who's a stranger in town. Mike becomes "Mighty Mike," a superhero (in a cape no less), as well as the talk of the town and school. Kyle decides Mike must be shown for the dolt--or alien--he is. Kyle's pranks (in disguise as the Azure Avenger) go horribly wrong, and to the locals Kyle's alter ego appears an archvillain. Will the town, especially best friend Mairi, ever see the truth of the matter? Kyle shares in the telling of his tale through "deciphered" secret journal entries, and the whole is good, snide fun. However, Lyga's first for a younger audience leaves too much unresolved, even for a series kickoff. Less a series opener than the first part of a longer single work, this offers too much setup, too little story. (Funny science fiction. 8-12]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
When Kyle Camden comes to after something fishy happens during a night plasma storm, he feels stronger, faster, smarter. As he already considers himself quite the supergenius (devoted to showing folks how dumb they are), he now feels even better about how great he is. That's until Mighty Mike, a kid who mysteriously appeared right around the same time as that plasma storm, shows up and annoyingly starts flying around, saving every day of the week. Kyle's convinced Mike is an alien, and he sets out to defrock the caped imposter by donning a costume of his own and embarrassing him in public. Motivated almost entirely by jealousy and petty spite, Kyle is a far cry from a sympathetic character in fact, many kids will see nothing more of his swelled head than a most swirly-worthy target. But he plays the antihero part with comic aplomb, and Lyga displays a nice grasp of superhero tropes (especially the gadgetry, with radiation-dampening antennas and the ilk) that middle-grade boys will flock to.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2010 Booklist