King of the Bench

September 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-It's a new season at Spiro T. Agnew Middle School, and Steve is back to discuss the benefits of sitting out the Mighty Plumbers football games. Steve finds an original Nintendo 64 game controller while visiting Billionaire Bill, who trades it for Steve's half-eaten, melting Eskimo Pie. Dismissing Bill's cryptic comment, "Control your life," Steve starts goofing around with the controller during a particularly boring part of the Goons football game. He pretends the match he's watching is a video game and decides to control the play from the stand. Guess what? It works. This gets him thinking. Is it cheating if he uses it to help the Mighty Plumbers? Fans of the first installment will welcome Steve's acerbic commentary on everything from inspiring coaching to athletic prowess. The art adds to the humor. VERDICT A solid addition to any collection looking for "Wimpy Kid" appeal.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2017
No matter the sport, Steve, middle schooler at Spiro T. Agnew Middle School, is the undisputed King of the Bench.Steve and his friends, diminutive and cryptically psychic Joey and gassy, big-boned Carlos, like sports but aren't interested in the prospect of being tackled. They prefer to watch their local NFL "doormat" team, the Goodfellow Goons, practice, sharing the bleachers with superfan Billionaire Bill, who lives in the stadium. Bill offers Steve an ancient Nintendo 64 controller in exchange for Steve's Eskimo Pie, along with the advice "Control your own life." After several experiments, Steve discovers that the controller seems to control people. When star athlete Jimmy Jimerino tricks the trio into volunteering for the sparsely populated school football team, Steve uses the controller to give the Mighty Plumbers a winning season, but each time he uses it someone gets hurt. Is the controller magic? Cursed? Will Steve ever leave the bench? Cartoonist Moore's second in the series features more of his scratchy cartoons and some goofy, sometimes-gross laughs. The story arc is predictable, but it's peppered with "Quick Time Outs" explaining school and sports subjects with hyperbolically wry humor. Inept sports fans will identify with Steve and his buddies and wish for their own N64 controllers. As in the previous book, diversity is communicated with naming conventions, including a tired joke about a Hawaiian student's long name. This won't "fry everyone's burgers," but its audience exists. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-11)

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September 1, 2017
Grades 3-5 Steve, the confirmed benchwarmer introduced in King of the Bench: No Fear! (2017), switches sports but returns with much the same supporting cast for further comical mishaps and heroics. Punctuating his narrative with claims that he's not even exaggerating, the cocky seventh-grader charts the course of Spiro T. Agnew Middle School's Mighty Plumbers as they go from zeroes to heroes on the gridironthanks to a battered Nintendo 64 game controller that somehow, weirdly, lets him guide teammates into the end zone from the sidelines. Unfortunately, the magic has a dark side as said teammates invariably suffer broken bones or other injuries. Not only is Steve faced with qualms of conscience, but by the time of the championship game, he ends up being the last possible running back. Along with lots of football action, Moore adds Wimpy Kidstyle cartoon figures delivering punchlines and snarky side comments (finished art not seen). Middle-graders who like stories that go for the yuks will, as Steve puts it, beat cheeks for this sequel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 16, 2017
Syndicated cartoonist Moore (In the Bleachers) introduces a self-described benchwarmer in this first installment in the King of the Bench series, profusely illustrated with scribbly b&w cartoons. Steve is happy to spend most of his time “on the pine” as his coach puts it: “Benchwarmers like me observe life from just the right angle,” Steve explains. “I’m not sitting too high up, where I look down on the rest of the world.” After one of Steve’s teammates is struck while at bat (“Way too gory to show!!” crows the black-box-censored cartoon accompanying the incident), Steve has developed a bad case of Bean-O-Phobia. Still, he would rather not end his first season as one of Spiro T. Agnew Middle School’s Mighty Plumbers with a batting average of zero. Smart advice from Steve’s father finally gives him the courage he needs to confront his fear. Populated with colorful characters and gross-out gags (Coach Earwax has a habit of cleaning out his ears with car keys), this offbeat sports story will satisfy Timmy Failure and Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans. Ages 8–12. Agent: Alan Nevins, Renaissance Literary.

January 1, 2018
In �cf2] Fear�cf1], Steve has a severe case of "Bean-O-Phobia": fear of getting beaned by a baseball. In �cf2]Control�cf1], Steve tries, disastrously, to play football (a potentially magical Nintendo controller is involved). Perennial middle-school bench-warmer Steve's first-person narratives use a blend of snarky wit and hilarious social observation. Cartoonish line drawings invite readers to laugh at and with Steve in equal measure.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)