Best Nerds Forever

March 15, 2021
Grades 4-7 This latest middle-grade offering from the unstoppable team of Grabenstein and Patterson is a mix of tragedy, comedy, fantasy, and nerdiness. As the story begins, Finn is days away from graduating middle school, cruising along on his bike, when a noisy black van runs him off the road. By page four, Finn realizes he's, well, dead, but still existing somewhere between the physical world and the afterlife. When his grandfather's cranky spirit shows up to ferry him to the great beyond, our hero refuses to go, determined to find out who was behind his demise. Soon he meets Izzy, a former schoolmate and fellow spirit, and the pair work together to resolve their untimely deaths. Written with a balanced mix of comedy and insight, this quick read will appeal to a broad base of readers. Relationships and language are natural, and the illustrations lend an added boost of humor. Readers will be rewarded through the very last page!HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: These authors are so in tune with kids, they may be part middle-grader themselves. Purchase multiple copies--this will be popular.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Two young ghosts with unfinished business in this world join forces. Eighth grade cyclist Finn McAllister decides to undertake a search for the supposedly crazed driver who forced him off the road and over a cliff to his death, but he spends far more of his time attending his own funeral, hovering near his grieving family and his four besties to overhear conversations, and floating through school--skipping the girls' restroom because he still has some standards--and positively hammering on the realization that wasting any of life's opportunities can only lead to regret. He discovers that he can still taste ice cream, smell farts, skip stones in the local lake, and use a TV remote. He can also share thoughts with both the living and with Isabella Rojas, the ghost of a classmate who vanished several months previously but is still hanging around, although she is not sure why. Eventually, in a massively contrived climax that leaves both souls ready to move on, Finn comes up with a scheme to produce proof of Isabella's death to bring closure to her mother and also absolves his hit-and-run driver of fault (for a reason readers will see coming). In this outing, the usually dynamic duo throws together an aimless ramble around a set of flimsy mysteries that fail to coalesce. Finn reads as White; Isabella is cued as Latinx. Final illustrations not seen. Likely to sell in spades but a slipshod, slapdash outing from co-authors who usually have higher standards. (Paranormal fantasy. 10-13)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)