Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Daniel, almost 10, is a lively, thoughtful child, but he has a problem. He was born with no indoor voice, and his words have been known to shatter glass as well as cause consternation among neighbors, teachers, and friends. At his new school, he meets a handful of other children, each of whom has a different peculiarity (from fidgeting to throwing tantrums), which, like Daniel's, is eventually revealed as a superpower. Bursting with action, color, and intriguing characters (both good and evil), this works in every way. Smith's visual wit, which puts a retro gloss on cartoon art characteristic of the 1950s, is on display without sidetracking the story, and pacing and plotting are superb; readers get to know Daniel as a kid before being plunged into impending disaster. Tension builds carefully, and there are plenty of puns along the way. Kids will anxiously await Daniel's next adventure.--Goldsmith, Francisca Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-As an infant, Daniel Boom is incapable of being quiet. He grows older and works hard to not be injudiciously noisy-to use his "inside voice"-but he just can't help being loud. Then he is warned by his eccentric uncle that this may be just what the evil society Kid-Rid wants, as it tries to silence all children around the globe. Taking action, Daniel, his sister, and three other kids battle against the adults who try to squash their exuberant youthful tendencies. The basic message is simple: talking a lot, forgetting to be quiet, fidgeting, and other things that make parents shush you are held up as normal and even ideal by being elevated to the level of superpowers. Each page has a goodly amount of detail crammed into the colorful art, with Easter eggs, jokes, and clues throughout. The book has plenty of gags for anyone reading closely, and the persistently cheesy jokes and constant action will charm youngsters. It's a pity the denouement is so limp after the frenetic climax, doing little more than encouraging readers to buy the next book, but that will certainly not dampen the appetite of most kids who pick up this volume.-Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In this nearly all-dialogue series-opener, a quintet of young superheroes with unusually kidlike powers squares off against a noise-hating mad scientist. Despite continual efforts to keep it down, Daniel is cursed with such loud pipes that no window or water glass is safe in his presence. This earns him a quick detention in his new school, where he meets three fellow fifth-graders with their own exaggerated abilities to annoy: Rex Rodriguez instantly breaks anything he touches; Violet Fitz can produce world-class tantrums; and Sid Down raises hyperactivity to high art. As it turns out, all four were test subjects as newborns, exposed to a defective "Behavio-Ray" that was supposed to make them permanently docile but had the opposite effect. Now the ray's developer, Otis "Old Fogey" Fogelman, is back with an improved product, and plans to try it out on the entire planet--starting with his first batch of failures. Joined by Daniel's babbling little sister Jeannie S. (who lives up to her name), the young folk do brisk battle in brightly colored, easy-to-"read" cartoon frames, win a victory and by the end have not only cool new names like "Tantrum Girl" and "Destructo Kid," but even a clubhouse. Stay tuned for further world-saving. (Graphic fiction. 8-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
