Review: BATTLING BOY by Paul Pope

**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly

4.04 Stars from 132 GoodReaders

Being a hero isn't as easy as it looks.  And Battling Boy finds this out when he is suddenly thrust from his cozy home onto a world where he's expected to be a hero who can deal with crafty politicians, and defeat monsters and bad-guys.

Battling Boy and dad

Paul Pope's story is slick, quite funny, and definitely guy-friendly. It's the story of a hero-to-be, a hero in training. The story begins with Battling Boy at home.  He's expecting to go outside and play with his buddies; but unbeknownst to him, it's The Day!  And he's sent off to a world where the old hero was just buried.

I think a lot of readers are going to sympathize with Battling Boy's situation. The fact that he's growing up and struggling to find his unique identity.  I particularly liked the humor. There was one scene, for example, where Battling Boy calls his dad 'at the office'. He's facing his his first tough monster and  isn't doing well. The conversation between the two is choppy and curt because his dad is fighting his own monster. And without the images you'd think though that the two were talking about math homework, with the son frustrated, and dad a bit distracted at the office.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: STAR WARS Dawn of the Jedi series - FORCE STORM
Review: YUMMY: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty
------------------------------------------------------------------

Guy-friendly and one way to keep 'em reading.

Pam~


BATTLING BOY
Graphic Novel
by Paul Pope

Reading Information:
Word Count: 8,085
Page Count: 208
Accelerated Reader: 2.5 / points: 1.0
AR quiz: 160429
 -- sample pages and reviews available