The Human Kaboom

December 1, 2022
Rubin returns with six new tales--all featuring the same title--to tickle the funny bone. An Iowa boy discovers an ancient curse while visiting his older sister on an island in northeastern Canada. A young girl from a family of circus trapeze artists lacks coordination but finds her role assisting a human cannonball. Two practical jokers have their sights set on pulling off the biggest prank the universe has ever seen. A guest in a New York hotel mysteriously and spontaneously combusts. Siblings make the best of things on a deserted island in the wake of the end of the world. Rubin, a humorist with a flair for explosive prose and side-splitting gags, is in good form here: All the stories boast laughs, smart characterization, clever plotting, and explosive incidents. The collection's opener kicks things off in style, but the pinnacle is the fifth, "The Human Kaboom (the one with the cursed pirate treasure)." A seventh entry, entitled "The Human Kaboom: (the one that hasn't been written yet)," is in fact a plea for readers to create their own incendiary tale and send it to Rubin. The gags are plentiful, the action is exciting, and the variety is commendable. Each story is illustrated by a different artist, featuring artwork from Marta Alt�s, Adam de Souza, Daniel Gray-Barnett, Rodolfo Montalvo, Daniel Salmieri, and Gracey Zhang (final art not seen). Most characters read White. Impossible to resist. (popcorn recipe) (Humor. 8-12)

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January 1, 2023
Grades 5-7 Rubin follows up The Ice Cream Machine (2022) with a second gathering of original stories, each with several pictures by different up-and-coming illustrators. Though varied in plot and style, each is shared and spun from the same title in earnest of Rubin's message to young prospective writers that "inspiration is everywhere." The tone fluctuates even more than in the previous outing: there's a hilarious field trip that takes readers to an orbiting amusement park shaped like a human body (which offers a whole new definition for full moon), and a gruesome, twisty whodunit that leads to a character-driven bildungsroman about a temperamental Canadian superhero's journey to mature human. Best of the lot is a thrilling and poignant circus tale that recounts the career of a blind high-wire artist. The author closes with an invitation to his audience to take his title and run with it themselves, while perhaps checking out the instructional videos on his website. Pedagogical purposes notwithstanding, there's more than enough entertainment value to light the fuses of readerly--as well as writerly--readers.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.