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Title: King of the Bench: Control Freak
Author: Steve Moore
Narrator: Maxwell Glick
Format: Unabridged
Length: 2 hrs and 27 mins
Language: English
Release date: 09-12-17
Publisher: Harper Audio
Genres: Kids, Ages 8-10
Publisher's Summary:
In the second book of this new middle grade series by the nationally syndicated cartoonist of In the Bleachers, Steve reprises his role as perpetual benchwarmer. Perfect for fans of Timmy Failure and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, King of the Bench is an ode to teammates, underdogs, and benchwarmers everywhere.
Steve is King of the Bench. No brag. That's just a fact. And this season Steve and his friends are ready to sit on the sidelines of the Spiro T. Agnew Middle School football field. But then they stumble upon an old-school video game controller, and they become convinced it can control sports plays. With it, Steve might become King of Football, too!
Oh, and if you're wondering why Steve would write a book and tell complete strangers about a mysterious magic device that pretty much controlled his first season on the football team, too bad! It's a strict rule when writing a book that you have to build suspense first.
Members Reviews:
Five Stars
My son loves this book and series. Very anxious for March for the next release.
Five Stars
My 11 year old loves this book!
A Fine Sequel
This is the second book in the "King of the Bench" series. The first book was very entertaining, on many levels, and I was curious to see if Moore could maintain the charm, energy and clever humor that distinguished the series. At least for me the answer is "Yes", ("No brag. That's just a fact.")
This time out Steve and his two pals are lassoed into playing football for Spiro T. Agnew Middle School. The benchwarmers angle that powered the first book isn't really in play this time. Rather, the hook is that our hero, Steve, has come into possession of an old Nintendo64 controller that may "magically" control players. Since nobody actually believes that, it's really just a plot tease; the book is really about whether Steve and his pals can survive football, reach down to find the heroes inside, win the big game without any magical help, and maybe even get the girl.
So, add "The Longest Yard" and the football game from the movie "M.A.S.H.", put it in middle school, and sprinkle it with school daze angst, and you sort of have a sense of where this book goes.
As before, the real appeal is Steve's narration, and his manic digressions. The voice is something along the lines of "deadpan frantic". By that I mean that there are lots of dry, deadpan funny throwaway lines and observations, but they are somehow melded with a high-energy, upbeat, gee-whiz delivery. The result is very appealing. Steve sometimes comes across as oblivious and sort of a knucklehead, but also keenly observant and mordantly, (for a middle grader), funny. I think that is an extremely difficult tone to strike and maintain, but it is consistent throughout the book. Maybe it works because the author never goes for irony, is never sour, and never mocks his kid characters or the genre. He can slip in the occasional edgy line, but it's kid appropriate edgy, (that is, jokes about certain teachers, the gross coach, Steve's over protective Mom, and so on).
The upshot is that this struck me as a fine, entertaining and young reader friendly series. It's funny, good-natured, and big-hearted, which is pretty much the most you could ask for.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review.