by Tracey Baptiste
Algonquin Books for Young Readers
Workman Publishing
2024
304 pages
ISBN: 9781643753812
Book available October 1, 2024
Tracey Baptiste has created her own super-hero--dare I say--series?
Being a foster kid isn't that bad, and Win (Coal) has seen everything and been placed in several homes, but when he has a run-in with an armed neighbor and somehow turns invisible, that's a whole other level of crazy. How did the armed man and later the police not see Coal? He "changed" his skin like a chameleon.
Sure, there's some glitches in turning invisible--like his clothes are still visible so he must be naked to be truly invisible, but it's a small price to pay for being a super-hero. Or is he a super-hero? And how can he learn to use his new-found power and control it? And how did he get this superpower? He knows so little about his birth mother or the man who adopted him.
When Coal tells his best friend Door about his invisible run-in, Door doesn't believe him at first and refers to Coal's new power as, "a stupid naked superpower." The boys need to figure out how Coal is able to turn invisible and what causes it in order to keep themselves safe, so they turn to where else? The trusty library. Researching humans and chameleons brings up the name of a company: Mirror Tech. Coal is determined to travel to Newark to find out is he is a mutant or an orphan or both.
The author weaves Coal's story masterfully, and a reader will have much to ponder about how skin color affects people's first impressions and society's treatment of a person based on their appearance.
Boy 2.0 is a read that will stick with you long after the last page is turned. The novel has huge potential as an extended series and is a stellar win for the author and the publisher. Kudos Tracey Baptiste and Algonquin Books for Young Readers for not only an important story but one packed with excitement, bad guys, evil stealthy doctors, military secrets and a few normal kids who use their friendships and wiles to best a gigantic corporation and expose dark conspiracies.
Highly, highly recommended grades 5 and up. If you read one superhero book, make it Boy 2.0 which is destined to become a bestseller, the next big thing and perhaps an entire franchise. This book is likely to win Every. Single. Book. Award. This. Year.
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