Stranger Things Have Happened

February 15, 2017
Marcus is a high school freshman whose vomit-inducing stage fright presents a major barrier to his dream of becoming a world-famous magician.Inspired and mentored by his great-grandfather, the retired Zachary the Stupendous, Marcus has been honing his craft since infancy. When his great-grandfather passes away unexpectedly, it is up to Marcus to uphold the family honor by developing and performing a truly spectacular illusion. With an ever narrowing window in which to prepare, combined with stress from school bullies and the aptly named Sinister Seamus, Marcus leans on his few friends to pull off the event. Marcus and his friends seem to dwell in a predominantly if not exclusively white world. Strand stuffs the dialogue full of witty banter, which is at first amusing, but over the course of the book, it gives the impression that each character, including the third-person narrator, is a would-be vaudevillian comic. The result is little depth or differentiation to the characters' speech, and their endless riffs become annoying rather than endearing. Though the central characters are all high school students, the hit-you-over-the-head humor combined with ridiculous plot elements make the book feel as though it's written for a much younger audience. Best enjoyed with willfully suspended disbelief and a laugh track. (Fiction. 12-14)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2017

Gr 7 Up-Fifteen-year-old Marcus Millian III aspires to become a magician and follow in the footsteps of Harry Houdini, Penn and Teller, David Copperfield, and Zachary the Stupendous. The latter was the stage name of his once legendary 89-year-old great-grandfather, Grandpa Zachary Millian, who recognizes true talent in his great-grandson. When Grandpa Zachary's rival, theater owner Bernard, suggests that Marcus is more suited for birthday parties than for large audiences, Grandpa Zachary wages a bet with Bernard that Marcus will pull off an illusion that will shock, stun, and astonish the world. Marcus unwillingly accepts this challenge to honor Grandpa Zachary's legacy. His illusion? Making a shark disappear from a tank. Events tumble wildly downhill as Marcus prepares for his impossible act. Along the way, he confronts bullying, mysterious and dangerous plots, unrequited love, and even death. A sarcastic tone adds to the enjoyment of this story, which captures a refreshing closeness between a teenager and his great-grandfather. The intergenerational bond is made even more believable through flashbacks that depict Grandpa Zachary creating magic with Marcus throughout his childhood. Strand maintains a taut pace with cliff-hanger endings to each chapter, even as he explores larger themes of confidence, perseverance, loyalty, peer pressure, bullying, family relationships, and the role of practice in developing skills.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2017
Grades 6-9 *Starred Review* Until the sudden death of his beloved mentor and great-grandpaZachary the Stupendous, as he had been known in his stage magician daysthe strangest thing that had ever happened to 15-year-old Marcus was being bitten by two parakeets at age seven. Now, following the rash acceptance of a wager to perform the most astounding magic trick ever, the grieving teen finds himself, in rapid succession, threatened with death by creepy magician Sinister Seamus; uncharacteristically calling out a trio of hulking bullies; assaulted by a pair of armed thugs, because a quixotic new classmate fancies himself a masked crime fighter; and, most dizzying of all, being unexpectedly kissed by just-friend Kimberly. So all Marcus has to do is defend himself from serious injury with card tricks, cope with a massive case of stage fright, and keep from saying or doing something stupid to alienate the equally flustered Kimberly. That's not to mention the various technical challenges involved in, as it turns out, making a live shark disappear on stage. As he did in The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever (2016), Strand flings a visionary, if impulsive, protagonist into encounters that simultaneously test his mettle and leave readers weak with laughter. The card-trick strategy may meet with mixed success, but Marcus is enough of a winner to earn both admiration and enthusiastic applause.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)