Stuntboy: In the Meantime
Publisher: Knights Of
Portico Reeves lives in a huge apartment complex in a city in the USA, buzzing with community, fun and life. In his imagination, he is a superhero – Stunt Boy – and neighbour Herbert Singletary the Worst is his evil nemesis. But the biggest threat to Portico’s world is in his very own home; his parents are being "mean" to each other and he needs his friends to get him through.
Portico’s story is fun and funny, but it is also a serious child’s-eye view of coping with the trauma of arguing parents. What’s special and different about this sophisticated book is the style: it reads like music, sampling different media such as TV shows, graphic novels and films, mixing in voiceovers from the author and using rhythm and call-and-response. The exciting graphic novel sections dip into a TV show that Portico loves watching. An extended metaphor towards the end reads like a jazz improvisation, as the author takes the reader into a world where Portico is literally split down the middle.
This book would make fantastic class reading because there is so much to discuss about how the writer uses language, literary devices and word choice to create their chosen effects.
