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| Jesper Jinx Cover |
Jesper Jinx is a new Middle Grade Chapter book from Finnish born author Marko Kitti. It is his debut novel in English. He has been writing fiction since 2001 and has 5 published works in Finland including one which was shortlisted for the Runeberg Prize in 2009. I received a free ebook version of the story for this review. This review is my honest opinion and the opinion of my eldest son (he is 7 and half years old). I only review books that are a good fit for my family and that I think might be a good fit for my readers.
MY REVIEW : BEWARE THE BOREDOM BUSTER
You know this boy. If you are teacher, or were a teacher in a middle grade classroom, you know this boy. Or at least this type of boy. Jesper Jinx is an eleven year old boy who bores easily and as a result begins what he calls the Boredom Buster. The antics that ensue usually spell trouble for Jesper and those around him. Family, friends, classmates and teachers. Things in Puffington Hill where Jesper lives are never boring.
The narration of this story adds to its interest factor. At least it did for me, however, my son was a bit confused by all the changes in narration through out the chapters and I had to make sure I told him from whose point of view the chapter was done. A more experienced reader will likely follow easily. There was one reference to a product that my son and I were not familiar with and had to do some research. Guarana Antarctia, an energy drink which we discovered is the most famous soda drink in Brazil. Who knew? This helped to understand its significance to the first story where we are introduced to Jesper.
After you get passed the first 2 chapters which introduce the reader to Jesper, his family and how he came to know the author; each chapter can stand alone. Some chapters were narrated by Jesper himself; while another the family cat narrated. In the second chapter the story is told from the voice of the author who just happens to be a writer living in Puffington Hill and who befriends Jesper and gets an all access pass to all of his stories. Jesper makes him promise that he can write his amazing stories but warns him he will never give him permission to publish them because then he would likely be grounded by his parents or expelled from school. The author then requires his readers to promise not to tell Jesper about this book. I hope beyond hope that Jesper never finds out that my son and I read the book and that I wrote this review. Ok and now you have to promise not to tell Jesper that you read this review.
Although this book perhaps was a bit too much for my son at age 7 I feel this book would be great for boys between the ages of 9-12. The subject matter appealed to my son as I think it would to a lot of boys. A caveat, however, if your child shall attempt any of the antics he/she read from the book because you got him/her the book based on my review I can not be held responsible. You are warned that it is a book about pranks and boys ideas about how to bust out of boredom. If you have boys you know! I am always on the hunt for books that would appeal to my son, engage his interest in reading, and provide entertainment value. My son was eager to know what happened with Jesper, his sister and a spider. Oops, I may have said too much.
For more info about Jesper Jinx you can visit
Jesper Jinx Web Page
For more information on the author you can check out his page here.
Cheers,
Bonnie
