Norm Feuti

Ethan and his friend Ricky are from a poorer part of town, and they're worried about being mixed in with wealthier kids at the regional middle school. Ricky decides they should build a new crew, with other kids like them, but Ethan doesn't like the friends Ricky finds. Ricky and Ethan have different interests, too, with Ricky being a fan of pro wrestling and Ethan being interested in a card game called Bio Battle. When he discovers there's a Bio Battle after-school club, he meets a few new show more friends that way, including Aiden, who's new to town, and Briana, an elementary classmate he didn't know well.

There are all kinds of middle school discomforts and embarrassments, from Ethan's mom's job at a big box store to his cheap shoes, shirts, and backpack. His mom gives him a certain amount of slack, but makes sure Ethan knows how hard she works, and that she has goals too - she asks for slack in return. Over the span of the story, Ethan starts to figure out his own personal style, both sartorial ("retro") and in friendships.

See also: Free Lunch by Rex Ogle show less

When a noisy FeeBoo bird named Beak joins the neighborhood swamp, Ally the alligator’s peace and quiet is disrupted. But is that such a bad thing after all?

This is a humorous book that has the simple text of an early reader but is formatted more like a graphic novel. Fans of Feuti’s Hello, Hedgehog series will enjoy similar friendship stories here. The illustrations really help tell the emotional impact of the story and make the book seem almost like watching a cartoon, which is likely show more to appeal to reluctant readers. show less

Disappointing. I love Feuti's "Retail" comic strip, so I'm sad that I found little to like here. The title character is a jerk who slowly learns a lesson in the course of the book. Unfortunately, even after he has learned the lesson I find him too much of a jerk to ever want to read about again. The real lead is supposed to be his daughter, but this generic princess with gumption just didn't appeal to me. I found the mute inventor who accompanies the royals on their quest to be slightly show more intriguing, but then I realized that was just because he reminded me of the little robotic helper from Carl Barks' Gyro Gearloose comics. show less

Rollicking sense of fun and humor kept me turning the pages. The intended audience may love it. I may have when I was a kiddo. Now, well, I enjoyed it, but can't rate it higher because it seemed so familiar, a set of motifs jumbled together. But hey, most of you haven't read over 10K books so I bet you're not as jaded as I am, so give it a shot. Definitely cute, clever, funny, and worthy.