Weird Kid by Greg Van Eekhout
Published by HarperCollins on July 20, 2021
ISBN: 0062970607
Pages: 208
Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Mystery
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

This humorous, slightly eye-rolling, Sci-fi chapter book for readers in grades 4-6 will inspire both a love of goo and detective work in readers.  Jake is an alien, the green goo variety, that has been living with his human Dutch-Indonesian parents in human form with relatively few accidental shape-shifting incidents until this past July.  Now that he has pushed to attend public middle school, he feels the pressure to keep his shifting under control.  Right after Agnes agrees to be his new friend, as they both are into the comic Night Kite, a huge sinkhole complete with goo that Jake feels very reminiscent about, opens up before them.  Jake must overcome his own desire for an origin story to help Agnes find out the reasons behind the hum in his head, the sinkholes and the newly appearing goo entities in various places in town, including his closet. Although the sci-fi theme is strong with silly goo and butt joke inferences due to Jake’s father being a proctologist, the relationship between Jake and Agnes is endearing and the writing is a fast paced mystery that clearly answers questions and entertains at the same time.

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Youth Services Librarian, Springvale Public Library