Middle School

Jake Wind is trying to stay under the radar. Whose radar? Anyone who might be too interested in the fact that he has shapeshifting abilities he can’t control. Or that his parents found him as a ball of goo when he was a baby.
Keeping his powers in check is crucial, though, if he wants to live a normal life and go to middle school instead of being homeschooled (and if he wants to avoid being kidnapped and experimented on, of course).
Things feel like they’re going his way when he survives his first day of school without transforming and makes a new friend. But when mysterious sinkholes start popping up around town—sinkholes filled with the same extraterrestrial substance as Jake—and his neighbors, classmates, and even his family start acting a little, well, weird, Jake will have to learn to use his powers to save his town.

To all the weird kids: Stay weird.

I didn’t go into this story with any expectations, but I wound up loving it. The characters are fantastic, has solid humor, and a fast-paced plot that pulls you in.

Short story short, this story is weird. And I’m not just talking about Jake being shapeshifting goo. Every character in this story has their own special brand of weirdness. Jake’s parents are both bizarre. His dad is, as Jake puts it, ‘‘a doctor of butts,” and his mom does something with ‘emotional soap.’ Agnes, Jake’s new friend, is undeniably odd, but that’s what makes her the perfect friend for Jake. Everyone has something weird about them, but that’s what makes them interesting. My favorite type of characters are the ones who accept any kind of weirdness and just go along with it.

This story also has a weird sense of humor. With Jake’s dad being a proctologist, most of the humor is butt-related. One butt joke, in particular, had me laughing for a long time.

In my opinion, this story has an 80’s science fiction movie feel to it. Kids riding bikes, investigating strange occurrences, business, government, and/or military are doing something unethical, and the kids save the day. Stories about kids saving the day were my favorite growing up, and they are still my favorite now.

Jake’s shapeshifting mishaps are a metaphor for puberty. Both involve changing bodies and feeling awkward in your own skin. Everyone has gone through an awkward phase. Some people spend their whole lives in one. I spent my first twenty years of life in an awkward phase.

Overall, this was an extraordinary read that I recommend to lovers of sci-fi and all things weird.