Thomas Flintham

This is the 4th book in the Press Start! series under the Branches imprint by Scholastic. It's a super fun read for gamers (new and experienced)! I've loved seeing the different nods to classic games and game mechanics thus far. There are definitely easily recognizable parallels that will bring smiles to parents' faces when their kids read about Super Rabbit Boy.

I'll be continuing on with this series since I love the many nods to gaming culture and want this as a ready recommendation in my show more librarian toolkit! show less

Pretty much all the Branches series are popular at my library. I have most of them together in the juvenile series, except for a couple long-running and older chapter books, Dragon Masters and Notebook of Doom. Personally, there are definitely some I like better than others and this new series isn't going to fall into my personal favorites, but a certain segment of readers will adore it.

Animal Town is a happy place. Until mean King Viking shows up with his robot army! Now their only hope is show more Super Rabbit Boy - but will he make it past all the obstacles in his path?

This is basically a narrated video game. Super Rabbit Boy jumps, dodges, and fights his way through a number of obstacles, continually confused when he has to start over at the beginning. Periodically, the story switches to the dark-skinned boy playing the game, with notes of his frustration as he tries to get past the final level.

The art is very bright and colorful, made to look like the pixelated art of an old-fashioned video game. The backgrounds are bright and splashy and the various obstacles more silly than scary. The text is divided between the lighter font of the narration and the darker text of the speech bubbles.

To be honest, I found this unutterably boring. The text is choppy and there's no real plot - like I said, it's basically the narration of a video game. Some kids absolutely LOVE this. It's already a popular title at my library and Minecraft and Mario fans gravitate right to it.

Verdict: A good fill-in for readers reluctant to put down their video games for a book.

ISBN: 9781338034714; Published 2017 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library show less

{My thoughts} – Super Rabbit Boy is on a all new adventure in this book. However, it’s a bit different from the previous ones. This book is still written in the way you are reading about a game as it is being played. It also still shows scenes of the siblings as they are playing the game together. I really like those scenes it helps to show children to share.

The illustrations and the text go together nicely in this book. It’s made very similar to that of a graphic novel. I like to call show more these a child’s start into the graphic novel world. They are fun and they have a fast paced story that helps to keep a child’s interest.

The content of this book is that Super Rabbit Boy ends up being kidnapped by Queen Spooky. Queen Spooky is the villain in this book. She and all her ghost followers make it hard for anyone to rescue Super Rabbit Boy. However, there is a nice little twist within the pages, that makes you think – WoWzeR! I know that’s what I thought once I came across it. This was a fun story that I am sure children will enjoy for years to come.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series in the near future! show less

{My thoughts} – This book is a bit different in terms of the storyline. The game within the book reminds me of a cross between Animal Crossing and Mario. The more of the series you read, the more this becomes apparent.

The text and illustrations go together nicely when it comes to showing the reader what is going on. I really enjoyed this story. In this book Super Rabbit Boy needs to go rescue some of his friends from King Viking. However, as the game is being played there is a hidden show more tube.

Once through the tube everything is the complete opposite of what it was before he’d entered. This gave a nice spin on the game and the story.

This book is perfect for fans of both Animal Crossing and all things Mario. Hopefully, your child will enjoy it as much as my little one’s have enjoyed having it read to them. show less