Franken-Sci High has the kind of book title that makes you want to kick yourself for not thinking of it sooner. If that’s the case then you can kick yourself just a little softer because that’s actually the title of the book series. It was created by Mark Young and the first release in this series, Jim Henson’s Franken-Sci High, What’s The Matter With Newton; as well as, the second one, Monsters Among Us! are out now. Depending on what your child likes to read it might be just the comfort reading food your third through seventh grader is looking for.
Those older audiences will find it comfort reading, whereas the younger ones will laugh more at the science-fiction gags. They’ll also read it a bit slower. What the series does very well is that it mixes up the tween friendships with school life. The school setting that the book takes place in, Franken Sci-High is a school that’s located in the Bermuda Triangle.
In order to attend school there students must have that scientific gift, but also use said talents for good not evil. Think a mad scientist school for genius 13 year old students and you’ve got the idea. There are a couple robots and monsters attending with the ‘regular’ humans also. To make things even more unknown, Newton Warp wakes up in the library and has no idea who he is or what he’s doing there. He’s the same age as the students in the class, but he’s just a little bit different-and that’s saying a lot considering the school.
Newton quickly meets Shelly, a young girl who is very smart and loves robotics. By her side is Theremin, a robot who is very loyal to Shelly and doesn’t trust Newton. Set in the background of all of this is middle school drama, a science fair that is taken very seriously, the school’s leadership and the normal social clicks that operate within any school.
The reading level is appropriate for those in third grade. It’s a fast book that intersperses illustrations by Mariano Epelbaum on some of the pages. The downside for some readers is that the chapter length varies a bit. Some chapters are 20 pages and others are 12. Those longer chapters do tend to have more illustrations, but if your reader has a set ‘chapter length’, they might get moody in those chapters.
I don’t think that’s likely to happen. The books have a light, fun vibe about them that kids who want a casual read will enjoy. There’s the mystery of where Newton came from and why he’s got a bar code on the bottom of his foot that’ll hook in middle elementary school readers. Think good, silly fun that kids will read and then request the next book in the series. It’s not likely to be a book series that you’ll keep in the forever library, but for a season or two this will be a good friend to them.
Jim Henson’s Franken-Sci High retails for $17.99 and is on Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
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