Jack Gets Zapped!

Starred review from December 15, 2020
A rad addition to Barnett and Pizzoli's early readers about Jack the rabbit, the Lady, and Rex the dog. One rainy day, the Lady (who presents White) and Rex settle in for a nice day of reading. Jack doesn't join them in this cozy activity, as he's too busy enjoying his video game, "Rad Kid." Then in a fantastic twist, lightning strikes, and, as the title foreshadows, Jack gets zapped into the game. An unlikely hero emerges as the Lady picks up the game controls and plays the game to save Zapped Jack, who, after some in-game fun, is defeated by the Boss. Pizzoli cleverly alters his illustrations for the scenes of the game within the book to make them appear pixelated, and Barnett's funny, controlled text makes the story accessible to emergent readers. The text describing the Lady's acquisition of gaming skills is particularly chuckleworthy: "You got this! Now go! Hop over that pit! Press A and RIGHT! / Oh. You fell in. // That's OK! You get three lives. So you have two lives left! Just stomp on this bad guy and-- / You died again." Gaming isn't vilified in this story, nor is reading elevated as the better activity, which makes it all the more likely that readers who prefer gaming over reading will actually enjoy this title. The backmatter gives directions for drawing Zapped Jack, and readers may well wish there were an accompanying game, too. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-13-inch double-page spreads viewed at 22.2% of actual size.) Zip to get this Zapped Jack book. (Early reader. 5-8)

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