Little, Brown and Company; 353 pages; sci-fi/fantasy/comedy; ages 9-14; ISBN: 978-0-316-16663-8.
Some kids don't just run away from their problems. Take Ignatius MacFarland, for example: after he's been picked on one too many times at school, this precocious seventh grader builds himself a rocket out of trash cans and firecracker powder (tied together with duct tape since duct tape can fix anything, don't 'cha know) and takes off into what he hopes will be friendlier skies. Somehow Ignatius ends up back on Earth, but in a different "frequency"—think alternate dimension or parallel universe—where his former English teacher, Mr. Arthur, rules over the land as "like, a total fascist," according to Karen, an old classmate who died in an explosion years ago in the regular frequency Iggy knows and (kinda) loves—or did she? Together they must expose and depose Mr. Arthur and find a way back "home."
Paul Feig created the cult-classic TV series
Freaks and Geeks and recently directed the hit movie
Bridesmaids. I didn't expect to find his name on the shelves of the children's department of the library, but
Frequenaut! continues the multihyphenate's celebration of outcasts of all ages (he even drew the pictures in the book, which are sometimes more compelling than the text that surrounds them). His first tween novel is too long at 350 pages, but even at that length Feig fails to explain his "frequency" concept clearly the way the
Back to the Future movies mapped out alternate timelines. Nevertheless, Feig shows lots of promise as a writer for tweens.
For further reading, check out Feig's sequel, Ignatius MacFarland: Frequency Freak-Out! (2010).
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