SPF 40

Gr 6–10—After a successful year, a band's members go their separate ways for the summer: Walt and Jay run a bookmobile, Vita tries to avoid responsibility and Plinko and Tanya are counselors-in-training at a camp where they meet enthusiastic Coley and cautious, restrained Scott. The artist's work in this follow-up to Zebrafish (S & S, 2010) seems somewhat more confident and smoother. However, readers unfamiliar with the characters may feel a bit at sea. There is little exposition about prior circumstances or relationships, and the fact that the characters have split into three camps (one literal) makes the story jagged and jumpy-it's less a sequential narrative than a series of character moments over time. Word balloons are occasionally placed in an order or position that confuses, and there are frequent blocks of dialogue that come across as staid because they are paired with a single, immobile image that can't successfully convey the evolving action. The tone is consistently positive, even when the story pauses to underscore the emotional seriousness of some of the situations. There is a foundation of optimism to every encounter, a belief that obstacles can be overcome and answers can be found. The book is chock-full of charm and aspiration, but perhaps so much so that it spills over in a jumble of enthusiastic disconnect.—Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH