Book review: ‘Adventures of Beanboy’ pleases superhero fans

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Read more about “The Adventures of Beanboy” and local author Lisa Harkrader.

In “The Adventures of Beanboy” by Tonganoxie author Lisa Harkrader, a seventh-grader named Tucker MacBean enters a comic book contest that has a college scholarship as the prize.

Tucker is obsessed with comics and superheroes; so are his brother, Beecher, and best friend, Owen.

Tucker and Beecher’s mother works all day and goes to school at night. As a result, Tucker and Beecher never see her. Tucker believes that if she could get a scholarship, she could quit her day job and they would get to see her more.

So Tucker decides to enter the contest to create a sidekick for his favorite comic book company. If he wins, his sidekick will also appear in all of the future issues of his favorite comic, H2o. But after Tucker does a reread of the contest rules, he discovers that the prize is nontransferable, meaning that his mother would have to enter the contest to get the scholarship. So to solve this dilemma, Tucker contemplates entering the contest in his mother’s name.

Tucker not only wants to help his mom, but also a less fortunate classmate. Through some soul-searching and acts of kindness, Tucker finds he has a “superhero heart.”

In this book, you will find a story about a quest to keep a family together and a fight to help the less fortunate. It is easy to follow, and I recommend it to all readers, but especially those that are interested in superheroes.