And in a world filled with books about wanting to fit in with the athletically gifted supercliques, this novel unabashedly celebrates the artsy crowd in all of its quirky, creative glory.Ī fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid. While the artsy antics may be over-the-top at times, this is a story about something that most preteens can relate to: the struggle to find your authentic self. Light and humorous, with Knight’s illustrations adding to the fun, Jake’s story will likely appeal to many middle-grade readers, especially those who might otherwise be reluctant to pick up a book. Or is he? It’s up to Jake to either find the talent that lies within or embarrass himself in front of the entire school. All is well until Jake discovers that the end-of-the-semester talent show is only two weeks away, and Jake is short one very important thing…talent. So how did Jake get accepted to the Music and Art Academy? He faked it.Īlongside an eclectic group of academy classmates, and with advice from his best friend, Jake tries to fit in at a school where things like garbage sculpting and writing art reviews of bird poop splatter are the norm. He can’t read music very well, and he can’t improvise. Weak writing and an unbelievable story-game over.īlack sixth-grader Jake Liston can only play one song on the piano.
Sam, on the other hand, wears her hair in a blonde ponytail (according to the text it’s presented inconsistently in the illustrations) and speaks in a “British-ish accent” or an “Australian way.” The setting includes improbable features, such as a mine underneath the Bionosoft headquarters, that make it a challenge to follow the story (but do make it feel a bit like a video game). Jesse, Eric, and Mark receive no character description at all apart from depictions in a few interior illustrations, leading to the likely assumption that they are all generic white boys. Readers new to the series might do well to follow instructions in the preface to read the first two books, as this one plunks them down in the middle of the action with just the barest bones of summary. In addition to the robot adversaries, hostile, suited men wielding threats of treason against the United States pursue the children. When giant robots from “Super Bot World 3” capture Jesse’s best friend, Eric, Jesse, his classmate Mark, and an Australian girl named Sam risk their lives to rescue him before the bots blast him to the moon.
A boy battles giant robots to save his kidnapped friend.Īs this series entry opens, the evil corporation Bionosoft’s system has crashed, and all the kids trapped in their video games are free-but so are the villains.
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