Stuntboy is the start of a fabulous, fart-free, graphic novel series

In the best of all possible ways, Stuntboy has an old-school strand woven all through the book. Even before you read the graphic novel that seed is sown when you turn the cover and see what author Jason Reynolds has written. It’s the dedication page where authors and illustrators dedicate the book or thank influential people in their lives. Reynolds’ blurb simply says “For ten-year old me” and illustrator Raul the Third’s is dedicated to the Village Two apartments where he grew up. Stuntboy has the DNA of a 10-year-old all through it. It’s also a graphic novel with the sensibilities of a traditional book, where the written words navigate its direction.

Stuntboy jumps into the soul of mid to upper-elementary school students. It communicates with them in the kinetic, hyper way that a 10-year-old does when they’re trying to share with you the genius of some insane new candy that they’ve discovered. Then, just when you think it’s all imagination-based silly time, it shines a light on real things that those ages, or friends of theirs will experience.

In the case of Stuntboy it’s one family that’s been through a divorce and another that’s going through a divorce. That is the dramatic backdrop, but it doesn’t focus on that for the majority of the book. Portico is a typical kid with a best friend and a cast of characters who live near him. He has an active imagination and has created the persona of Stuntboy to help in understand, tolerate and deal with everything happening around him.  Older readers will realize how trivial it is to bicker about things that don’t matter, in addition to seeing how it impacts the kids, even when it does so in a seemingly soft or impassive way.

The main thrust of Stuntboy is imagination, having fun, growing up, and friendship. If you’re in elementary or middle school and are thinking that this sounds like a graphic novel all about lessons, it’s not. Portico lives in a major city, where things that happen more often in large cities happen. That’s the only qualifier that might put some young readers off of the graphic novel. However, even if you’re thinking that the book warms up on you very fast. Its playful, energetic style will easily embrace readers of all reading genres. This is a book with heart, but not so much heart that it puts that on the hood of the car.

Instead, it’s a rare, potty-humor-free, graphic novel with enough words to make those who disagree with the genre stand up and cheer. At the same time, the illustrations in the book make those reluctant readers dig into their vocabulary, read and enjoy a story that’s ultimately based in the real world.

Stuntboy: In The Meantime could easily be the start to a graphic novel series that mid-elementary through middle school will consider their go-to books. The subtitle, In The Meantime, takes its meaning from a way that kids could interpret, and rightly so sometimes, that adults go into the ‘mean time’, during arguments. Portico tries to ignore it as much as possible, but his parents don’t get along, but he lives in the biggest house on the block and has all sorts of people to protect as his alter ego.

The immediate takeaway that young readers will have when they pick up Stuntboy is that it doesn’t look like anything they’ve seen before. Its variety in font does bring to mind Pizazz, however, that series has a slightly lower reading level and more resembles manga. In Stuntboy, no three pages in a row look the same. The effect keeps readers engaged and makes them interested in the story. Likewise, the art segues between a more serious graphic novel feel and the looser-drawn images that are on the cover.

For some audiences, Stuntboy is just the graphic novel that they’ve been screaming for. For others, it’s a great surprise that has just enough real-life experiences to remind them of something happening within their circles. Readers will also appreciate that the graphic novel can be equally enjoyed by boys and girls, something that’s quite a rarity indeed.

Stuntboy: In The Meantime is by Jason Reynolds with art by Raul the Third and available on Anthem/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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