Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson, Alcatraz series #1, a review
Published 2007 by Scholastic, 308 pages
Genre: Middle grade humorous fantasy, aimed at readers approx. 12 years old

This engaging and funny book promises to encourage reluctant readers with plenty of improbable silliness. Its only flaw is that it isn’t all that hard to put down, owing to the silliness part.

Alcatraz, a 13-year-old who has grown up in foster care, finds himself accidentally breaking things all the time. So he gets kicked out of foster home after foster home.

Then a strange birthday present shows up, a tiny  bag of sand, which he ignores. But then, it’s missing! Who took it? Pretty soon someone claiming to be his grandfather comes and takes him away, explaining that it’s time he learned about his heritage and his incredibly useful talent–for breaking things. It’s the evil librarians who took the precious bag of sand, and the race is on to get it back. Can he use his “talent” to get it back?

Sanderson addresses the reader directly plenty of times in the book. I find his doing this a bit distracting. What’s the general effect on a reluctant reader? Not sure. And then, there’s the joke right at the end of the book.  Clearly he had a lot of fun writing it.

I certainly enjoyed this book. I bet most kids would too.

Four stars: ****

 

Click icon for more
book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
Short Story by Phyllis Wheeler

Free short story! Subscribe to News and Reviews.

This is the origin story for my series Guardians of Time, available only here. You can unsubscribe at any time! I'll never share your email address.

Check your email, including spam folders!