Boom!

Mark Haddon

When Jim's sister tells him he's going to be kicked out of school, he and his best friend Charlie decide to plant a bug in the teacher's staff meeting to listen in and see if Becky is lying. They don't hear any talk of Jim or his future. But they do hear two of their teachers talking in a strange language after the meeting. It's not a language they recognize. Those two are curious. They start sneaking around spying on the two teachers.

They tend to take risks - and get in trouble at home. Using the strange words they overhear, they start searching for the language. They can't find it. Charlie keeps a notebook of the clues they find. Then when they try to ask Mr. Kidd, he gets angry. Jim is sure that Mr. Kidd's eyes turned electric blue for a moment. But that had to be his imagination...right? Then they're threatened by a wierd stranger.

It's only after Charlie is kidnapped that they start to learn what has happened. Jim has to rescue Charlie. They both have to rescue Earth. If they can't, it will go Boom!

This is a clever story for tweens. Mark Haddon has set the story so it could be true, or it could be just another one of those "alien abduction" stories. Boom! is cute and will appeal to the adverturous kid - boy or girl. They live in London. Jim tells the story. An American child may not understand all the lingo, but it makes sense in context.

Boom! is a great way to escape and explore your imagination. What exactly is going on up there in Scotland? What is that Earth shattering noise and blue light shooting up from the Isle of Skye? It's easy to guess but that doesn't take away from the story. Instead, the descriptions keep the reader's imagination going.

The description of the people from Earth who decide to take the wildest chance of their lives is great. Yeah, I can see myself fitting in a discussion about the problems with Vogon poetry...

This story is fun. Tween boys will especially like it. And they might learn a thing or two about cooking along the way - or not.