Stuntboy, in the Meantime

LoveReading4Kids Says

Longlisted for the UKLA Book Award 2023 ages 7-10

Jason Reynolds has a golden touch when it comes to creating thought-provoking fiction that will enthral even the most reluctant of readers. 

In Stuntboy In the Meantime readers will feel well and truly understood by two golden touches, with Raul the Third’s energetic illustrations ingeniously interwoven to the entertaining, empathetic tale.

Portico Reeves is a one of a kind boy, with a one of a kind best friend in Zola. After a tough day dealing with the local bully, Herbert Singletary the Worst, followed by a bad case of The Frets (his evocative term for anxiety), with Zola’s guidance Portico finds his superpower and Stuntboy is born, a superhero whose job it is to keep other superheroes safe, so they can get on with saving the world. But while Stuntboy performs several acts of superhero-dom around his Skylight Gardens apartment block (never blowing his own calamity-averting trumpet), he has to fend off further attacks of The Frets and figure out how to stop his parent’s constant arguments (aka “the mean time”).

Driven by first-rate, funny dialogue and fast-paced action, and suffused in understanding, Stuntboy will speak to young readers dealing with anxiety, bullies and separating parents while keeping them upbeat and engaged.

Joanne Owen

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