Celebi Rescue (Books Boys Love) <br> (Battle Frontier- Scholastic)

A Pokémon book finally made it's way home, which was all the impetus I needed to finally read one and see what-all was involved. Not that I expected swearing or anything, but I was wondering about the quality of the writing and what, if any, violence there might be.

I'm a little surprised and definitely happy to say that the writing is good. It's not Hemingway good, but for a book on this level, the story is well constructed, and the dialog and plotting is entirely reasonable. (Here's a sample)

Then a small green Pokémon flew toward the flames. Celebi's round head was pale green and shaped like a plant bulb. Small transparent wings flapped on it's green back. It scanned the flames with two big blue eyes, and its entire body began to glow with green light.

The huddled Pokémon spotted Celebi in the sky. They watched, suddenly filled with hope.

As far as the bad guys, they are perfect for younger kids. In this book they are characters named Jessie and James and Meowth, a cat-like Pokémon. And they say/sing stuff like the following:

"Prepare for trouble, we're the cleanup crew!
With an ambush custom-made for you.
An evil as old as the galaxy.
Sent here to fulfill our destiny."

They're the sort of baddies that know they are bad, exclaim that they are bad, and even have little ditties they sing about being bad. Which is to say, I didn't see any downside to this book. It's got mild adventure, good moral lessons, and I'm taking my boy back to the library to get more. This is good boy-stuff!

THE SKINNY:::