Take everything that a 10 year-old kid wants and put it into a middle-grade novel. It must have humor, heart, lots of jokes, parallels to school, the cliques that operate therein and have a side dash of science fiction. That’s a tall order but Slamdown Town encompasses all of those categories and another big one that will bring in some fans and that’s wrestling. Almost more impressively, the book weaves the wrestling into the book without alienating those that don’t like, or don’t know about the joys of a slightly pre-arranged body slam and victory.
There is no getting around the fact that Slamdown Town has wrestling as its main plot point. However, placed upon this background are two brothers who love the sport and the entertainment. Hollis is the older brother and since he’s been in eighth-grade he’s been kind of a jerk to Ollie. They still have wresting in common, but more often than not; he’s picking on his brother in front of his friends and trying too hard to be cool for all of the wrong reasons.
Thankfully, Ollie has Tamiko, she’s smarter than he is, but through their mutual appreciation of the squared circle they’re best friends. Everything is going according to the middle school and brotherly bullying code until Ollie’s birthday. Hollis gives Ollie the half-hearted and very dismissive gift of bubble gum that had been chewed by Professor Pain. Pain was one of the great wrestlers that they all love and he purchased the gum online for a couple dollars. Hollis continues his jerky ways when he’s with his older friends and publically dares Ollie to chew the pre-chewed gum.
It’s here when Ollie discovers that chewing the gum changes the person immediately into a 6’5” professional wrestler. He still thinks the same, but physically is a hulking presence that’s not to be messed with by his brother, much less inside the ring. As soon as the gum is spit out Ollie goes back to his primary school body and problems.
It is like Big (the movie), but with wrestling and bubble gum serving as the catalyst for the change. It’s also different in the fact that the Ollie can go back and forth at will, for better or worse. Sure, it sounds gimmicky and any ‘body switch’ story will certainly have older readers (see: those not in middle school) rolling their eyes to some degree. However, here’s the real curve ball for those jaded folks…Slamdown Town is very entertaining-and that’s if you’re parent. (see: really old)
If you’re 8-12 years old this book will be a breathless read that’ll have you laughing, rooting for Ollie, wishing that his brother wasn’t such a jerk and hoping that you’d find a piece of gum that would allow you to do the same things that happen in the book.
Slamdown Town looks like an intimidating book. It’s thick and there aren’t many illustrations. There are a handful of illustrations that show some wrestling action, but this is a middle school book for those big kid readers. Coming in at just over 300 pages it could be the longest book that some fourth graders have read. However, it’s smaller than most books, more in line with a Wimpy Kid size, than most of the other fiction books that age would read.
Our 10 year old is able to easily read the book and it’s right up his alley. He is not a wrestling fan. You don’t have to enjoy wrestling to love the book. Slamdown Town reads so quickly you’ll be in the third chapter before you realize it. It might not win over converts to become fans of wrestling, but it’ll sure entertain upper elementary through middle school readers that tag in.
There are affiliate links in this post, because……wrestling
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