Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy! (Press Start! #1)

Gr 1-3--A young boy playing a handheld video game as the character Super Rabbit Boy works his way through many colorful pages of peril, navigating a sea of Robo-Crabs, biting Robo-Fish, quicksand, Robo-Snakes, and the very scary Mount Boom and trying to save Singing Dog and all of Animal Town from King Viking and his robot army. The point of view quickly shifts from a third-person perspective of the boy in his messy bedroom to a first-person perspective as the boy plays his game, then flashes between these two viewpoints throughout. Brightly colored illustrations of the game screen move the story along rather quickly. With short chapters and full-color pages, this first installment in a new series will draw in young independent readers. VERDICT A strong addition to most chapter book collections, especially where there are gamers.--Lindsay Persohn, University of South Florida, Tampa