Caramel enjoyed Aaron Blabey’s The Bad Guys series and has reviewed the first three books in it: The Bad Guys, The Bad Guys in Mission Unpluckable, and The Bad Guys in the Furball Strikes Back. Today he is reviewing the first book of a new series by Blabey: Game of Pets: The Boy Who Knew Too Much, which was published just last week! As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.
Sprinkles: So Caramel, today we are talking about a brand new book from an author you have really enjoyed before.
Caramel: Yep, we are, Aaron Blabey is the person who created The Bad Guys books. And I really enjoyed those.
S: This is a different kind of book though. Those are almost like graphic novels, more or less, right? This one is more like a regular chapter book.
C: Yes, this seems to have more words, but not that much more.
S: Hmm, apparently there have been a total of twenty Bad Guys books; we only reviewed three of them. But now this one is the first book of a totally new series. Can you tell us a bit about it?
C: Yeah, sure. The book starts out like a game show, with an announcer saying it is called the Game of Pets, where a bunch of competitors are in control of millions of animals on earth, such as cats, dogs and other ‘pets’. By controlling the pets the competitors’ goal is to make their humans destroy their homes and as much of the planet Earth as possible.
S: Okay, that sounds weird. But please go on.
C: Yeah. So then it cuts to a child, a boy named Griff, who is allergic to everything, except fish and scaled creatures, but he’s scared of those.
S: Okay, I am guessing he will get a pet nonetheless.
C: Yes, he does! He finds an axolotl named Bob in the back of a pet store, and he for some reason really likes it.
S: You really like axolotls too, no?
C: Yeah, I even reviewed a little book named Max, A Little Axolot.
S: So you can sympathize with Griff.
C: A bit, yes. Anyways, it turns out that this axolotl isn’t a part of the Game of Pets, and he wants to save the world, and so he chose Griff to save the Earth with him.
S: Hmm, from what you told me, Griff does not seem like a great savior, but we read a lot of other books with unlikely heroes.
C: Yeah, definitely. Ben Ripley in the Spy School series, for example, is kind of like that. He is not athletic at all, and kind of clumsy. But he is extremely intelligent. Griff is also like this. And now that I think of it, Artemis Fowl is also kind of like that. So yes, a lot of heroes who are kind of weak but figure out things and solve problems and save the world and such. Hmm.
S: I think authors of books using this kind of hero try to give kids hope that even if you are not the strongest or the fastest kid, you can still make a difference. But of course the moral of the story is not the point. The point is the books are also a lot of fun. At least Artemis Fowl and Spy School books were very much so. Did you like this book too?
C: This is just the first book, so I am not sure yet if I will like it as much as those other series. But it is also pretty good. Definitely very funny and weird.
S: So when you told me about a game show which uses pets and humans on our planet, I thought of the other book series you are reading and reviewing for the book bunnies blog. The Dungeon Crawler Carl series also has a galactic game show, and outsiders are just watching poor humans struggle for their own pleasure.
C: Yeah, I can see the parallel. But of course the Carl books have a lot more pages, and they have only a couple pictures in them. The Game of Pets book is a lot more visual. Lots of pictures on each page.
S: Which makes them more appropriate for and appealing to younger bunnies of course.
C: Of course. The Carl books are not so appropriate for very young bunnies. This book, on the other hand, is written for us kiddos. I guess if you are a young bunny who might be scared of the idea of aliens trying to use pets to destroy the planet, maybe it is not a good book for you. But otherwise it is a funny book and fun to read.
S: I saw the very last page says “To be continued…” Does that mean it ends in a cliffhanger?
C: Kind of. The main events of the book are kind of explained and resolved but the epilogue introduces a new problem. And it involves an axolotl!
S: Hmm, so you just might have to read the next book.
C: Yep, I just might.
S: We will see, Caramel. For now, I think this is a good place to wrap up this review.
C: Sure.
S: What do you want to tell our readers?
C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!
