Weird Kid

Weird Kid

Van Eekhout, Greg

HarperCollins, 2021

208 pages

Grades 3-6

Science Fiction/Adventure

Jake Wind plays guitar, loves his dog, is a superhero fan and is embarrassed by his dad's jokes--oh, and is an alien. His parents found him in the backyard as a ball of goo that transformed into a baby. He was able to keep his shapeshifting abilities under control until this summer, as he is about to start middle school. Once school starts he meets Agnes, a new kid who is into the same super hero that he likes and seems to accept him, despite his quirks. When sink holes begin appearing all over town oozing strange goo, the two friends become suspicious. Agnes takes a sample of the goo for scientific research and they start investigating the sink holes. Eventually the search leads to two strange alien twins and a secret laboratory. Can Jake and Agnes save the world from this mysterious goo determined to take over the world? Will Jake ever get to be a normal kid or is he destined to permanently reunite with his alien roots?

Van Eekhout offers a humorous and adventurous story sure to entertain science fiction fans as well as those new to the genre. Who doesn't feel like an alien during middle school? At first I thought that I was dealing with an unreliable narrator and that Jake's shape-shifting troubles were due to puberty, but then the absurdity of the alien invasion became clear and I knew that his predicament was literal. I then enjoyed the story and was all in. The plot is clear with an obvious villain and straight forward story line. Kids will easily be able to follow the action and suspend belief as Jake and Agnes follow the sink holes to get to the truth. The author infuses humor into the plot, making the the book fun as well as adventurous. Best of all, the story is original and fresh. Not too long, reluctant readers will give it a go and find themselves swept up in the action. Jake is a sympathetic character and readers will identify with his plight, even if he is an alien. After all, aren't we all a little "weird"?