Fiction - Schools & Friendship, Fiction - Comic Books & Graphic Novels
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Overview
High school can be a time of terrible angst—Fs on tests, bullying jerks, broken hearts,
and late-stage puberty are just some of the potential issues that all teen boys face. But what about the issues facing a Teen Boat? In this hilarious send-up of teen story tropes,
the best-selling author Dave Roman and the cartoonist John Green deliver high school and high seas drama with a boatload of laughs.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"The cartoon illustrations are simple, bold, and accessible. Teens who clue in to the comic's self-aware goofiness will enjoy this title."—School Library Journal"With chapters that are short, deliberately silly, and often hilarious...this book is a good grab for teens looking for a quick laugh."—Booklist
"Teen Boat takes a wacky concept and places it in the realm of high school life."—VOYA, 3Q 2P M J
VOYA -
Teen Boat is a boy who can transform into a boat on command. Yes, you read that correctly, a boat. He has all the angst of unrequited love and high school life with a mixture of nautical adventures. The stories have some continuity, like Teen Boat's crush on foreign exchange student Nina Pinta Santa Maria, while others, like the boat-stealing mystery, are completed in a single story line. The Ignatz Award—winning web comic gets an upgrade with full-color artwork in this book version. Teen Boat takes a wacky concept and places it in the realm of high school life. While the nautical jokes keep coming, it does have a lot of humor and school drama that keep it fresh. Roman keeps things interesting by having an illegal boat casino party, a school trip to Venice, and a mystery. Illustrator Green has a fun cartoony appeal in his art. The characters are all very easy to distinguish, and he adds little allusions to other cartoon art, like Black Jack from Osamu Tezuka. While one can read most of this book online for free, there are bonus stories in the print publication. Younger teens may appreciate the humor found within the pages, and its content is fairly innocent, but older teens may feel this is beneath them after a few episodes. Reviewer: Kristin Fletcher-SpearChildren's Literature -
Blending elements of the short-lived 1980s Saturday morning cartoon Turbo Teen (which starred a teenager who could turn into a sports car) with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek humor, Teen Boat! offers a hilarious tale of a young teenager with the dubious superpower to turn into a small yacht. Yet even this special ability can't help him attract the attention of his long-time crush, Nina-Pinta-Santa Maria, earn him popularity, or protect him from the wrath of school bullies. Still Teen Boat (T.B. to his friends) struggles to fit in—even if that means taking the cool kids into international waters on his boat form (where he ends up tangling with some pirates!), flirting with a surprisingly fetching Italian gondola, or trying to earn his driver's license while in boat form. All the usual cliche characters are here—the girl next door with feelings for the hero, the slack jawed bully, and the perfect-but-shallow girl. Rather than detract from the story, however, these elements enhance it since Roman and Green obviously have great affection for the cartoons and comic books that helped inspire this parody. Some grownups might be put off by the few swear words thrown around, as well as some mild adult situations (including a brief mooning scene), but the humorous writing and fun artwork will make this book a winner with kids and adults nostalgic for old cartoons. Reviewer: Michael Jung, PhDSchool Library Journal
Gr 7–10—This web comic, now in print and full color, features a teenager who has the ability to transform into a small yacht. The authors play with this concept in the campiest ways possible: the words "Teen Boat" always appear in the same superhero typeface; Teen Boat has a crush on a girl named Nina Pinta Santa Maria, then later finds love with a Venetian gondola. The short chapters contain plenty of action: Teen Boat gets hijacked by pirates, falls in love, and fails his driving exam. The cartoon illustrations are simple, bold, and accessible. Teens who clue in to the comic's self-aware goofiness will enjoy this title.—Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NYKirkus Reviews
He's a teen... and a boat. This overly ambitious and often downright odd graphic novel introduces the not-too-creatively named Teen Boat. This is a young man for whom the ordinary trials and tribulations of adolescence are amplified by his bizarre nautical alter-ego, which he turns into if he gets any liquid in his ear. In an effort to fit in at his stereotypical high school where the jocks get the hot girls, the punk kids are anarchists and the goth kids moodily mope around, Teen Boat tries to use his transforming abilities to achieve popularity. He lets the in-crowd throw a party on him when he is in his boat form; this, of course, ends disastrously. He tries to get a driver's license, but his jerky driving maneuvers lead to his evaluator's coffee accidentally spilling in his ear, resulting in a calamitous outcome. This is very much a comic for adolescent boys: Humor is often sophomoric, and most of the girls--with the exception of Teen Boat's best friend--are busty caricatures. While some of the jokes will indeed induce a chuckle or two, many are stretched to the point of exhaustion, leaving readers ho-humming rather than haw-hawing. The peculiar concept and campy jokes create a strange blend, sort of Archie meets the Transformers--a puzzling combination, indeed. Puerile and odd, this concept doesn't float. (Graphic fiction. 12-15)Book Details
Published
May 8, 2012
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages
144
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780547636696