I'm not sure how I feel about this book. On the one hand, it has an almost juvenile feel, especially in the descriptions of the aliens and their illustrations, as if a tween wrote it. On the other hand, the writing is more polished and mature and that juvenile feel gives a very authentic voice to the 14-year-old narrator. I didn't find it as funny as some reviews said it was, but the author manages to describe an older teen girl/younger teen boy working together realistically and it really works in the story. But parts of the plot feel kinda pedestrian, especially the evil guy behind the scenes. The idea of frequencies is similar to Diana Wynne Jones' parallel worlds in the Chrestomanci universe, but Feig's evolution makes this a new and interesting fantasy concept.

Verdict: Hmmm. Obviously, it was interesting enough to read all the way through and has enough depth to keep me thinking about whether or not I liked it. So, thumbs up! An additional purchase if you'd like something a little different

ISBN: 0316166634; Published September 2008 by Little, Brown; Borrowed from the library

If I gave this book a letter grade, it would be an F. It was a terrible book, and I don’t often say that, especially about something I got all the way through. I only read it because it is one of the Readers Choice books for the state of MT, and there has been some debate about how appropriate it is - there is a lot of pee talk and boy talk. Ignatius is a 11 year old boy who has been picked on his whole life, and like most bullied students, there’s not one thing that you can point out. So he and his friends decide to build a rocket to go to outer space to avoid all of this. At the last minute, Ignatius gets in the rocket, and ends up in another frequency. It turns out that an English teacher and a high school student from his frequency (Earth today) are also in this new frequency. The English teacher has taken over this world and is making everyone do his will, and Ignatius gets caught up in the anti-establishment. The book is extremely (probably over-) complicated. There is constant action and it is told in a breathless stream, much like someone who has ADD. There is a lot of enthusiasm for the story, and a Diary of a Wimpy Kid feeling to it, but I really could have cared less. I didn’t like Ignatius, and when he is forced into defending himself, it left me cold. This is a set-up for a series, but I would never recommend it. ( )

Personal Response:

A funny sci-fi adventure, but I was a bit disappointed that Feig left the door open for a sequel rather than providing a real ending. For anyone familiar with Feig's other work, Iggy is a familiar, sympathetic figure.

Curricular or Programming Connections:

Design artwork of creatures in frequency

This was recommended to me by a fellow "Freaks and Geeks" fan. I like Feig's work, so I was disappointed when I didn't like Feig's book.

Ignatius is a typically Feig-ian outcast. He's twelve, has few friends, doesn't connect with his parents and gets picked on at school. He fantasizes about alien abduction and space travel to get away from it all. When he and his friends build a spaceship, he gets his wish. Sort of. He's transported to an alternate "frequency" of Earth, one that has a few other former members of his town, who also got caught in explosions. One of them is Karen, a badass goth girl, and another is Chester L. Arthur, a former English teacher with delusions of grandeur who has subjugated many of the strange-creature natives, taken over as "President" and tries to pass off other people from Earth's best creations as his own.
Iggy and Karen meet up with a race of flying intellectuals, then are caught in a race war while being chased by Arthur's army. Throughout, Iggy provides commentary as well as story. It's supposed to be funny, but instead I found it tiring.

This is a young boy adventure, and it might appeal to young boys and people who were at some point young boys. It failed to connect with me, from its meandering plot to its end that wasn't an ending, but instead a thin bridge to a sequel I don't care to seek out. I wanted to like it, but couldn't. ( )

http://lampbane.livejournal.com/586322.html

"This is the story of a kid who blows himself up and ends up in another dimension. And it's weird and silly and even the situations he ends up in have this pseudo-comical flair to them. Which is understandable for a YA book, but not entirely necessary. The silliness is reminiscent of a Robert Rodriguez kids' film, where while the threat is real, as an adult you can't take it entirely seriously. I'm not sure if kids would take it seriously either, but I can't really speak for them.

The main character is likable, and he's that right balance of knowledge/innocence. He's not an action hero and he knows it, which makes it easier to read than those kids' books and movies where the kid is super-competent while all the adults are oblivious. He's just smart enough, except you do have to question his wisdom in building a rocket out of a trashcan and some fireworks. His main ally is a teenage girl, who is just a bit annoying with her constant "I know everything you dumb kid" but maybe it just seems that way because we're seeing it from Ignatius' perspective. The two characters have a good rapport. [...]

I had two major problems with the book. The first is that it doesn't have a proper ending, just a cliffhanger that leads into the next book... the one that doesn't exist yet. [...]

The second is the disconnect between writing style and book length. The writing style is very basic, at a lower grade level than I'm used to. It's still a fun read, but it's written very plainly and straightforwardly... language-wise it's very basic and uninteresting. This would be fine, except that it's 300 pages. The kind of kid reading at the level the book is written in usually isn't ready for a book of that length yet. Yes, lots of kids read Harry Potter and those things are 800 pages but HP also has more sophisticated writing." ( )