Just Call Me Boom Boom

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Commencing some two weeks after the action in Meet You in the Sewer, the
previous instalment in the “JAWS Mob” (named after the writing club
that meets at John Allen Watson School, a middle school in Toronto’s
West York area) series, Just Call Me Boom Boom follows the activities of
13-year old Bryan Benjamin “Boom Boom” Bortorowski. Always the
biggest kid in class, Bryan got his nickname in kindergarten because he
fought with older kids. Now an 8th-grader, Boom Boom wants to maintain
his reputation as “the meanest dude in the neighborhood,” but not as
a bully. Unfortunately, Bryan’s difficulty in controlling his volatile
temper has caused Mrs. Watson, the assistant principal, to threaten to
revoke all his school privileges, including JAWS Mob participation,
unless his behavior improves.

Two interconnected stories allow Boom Boom to emerge twice as a hero,
image intact, and both plots involve Sonea, a young female artist from
Loranu, an island near New Zealand. In the first, Boom Boom, while in a
reputedly haunted house, prevents a valuable Loranu art object from
being stolen; later, he uses his computer skills to rescue Sonea from a
runaway amusement-park ride.

Readers anticipating Godfrey’s humor will not be disappointed.
Particularly funny is Boom Boom’s “courting ritual” as he meets
the girl of his dreams, the behemoth Gustavia “Gutsy” Phipps, who
bests him in arm wrestling and then invites him to “hang out” with
her. The use of the word “Undees” for the Loranu stone carvings also
leads to some amusing homophonic humor.

The book’s open ending, which hints at a possible ghost story, plus a
romantic triangle involving Boom Boom, Gutsy, and Sonea, will leave
readers in Grades 3 to 7 eagerly awaiting the next JAWS Mob instalment.
Recommended.