Zero to Hero (Ghost Buddy Series #1)

Publishers Weekly

Hank Zipzer collaborators Winkler and Oliver launch the Ghost Buddy series, introducing an endearingly uncool hero with the dorky name of Billy Broccoli. Despite his acute clumsiness and preference for wearing fart-themed T-shirts, Billy is articulate, witty, and good-hearted. None of which, unfortunately, will win him popularity in his new middle school, especially since his mother is the principal. This new series would fall clearly into the genre of silly realistic fiction were it not for the presence of a 113-year-old ghost, Hoover Porterhouse, into whose room Billy has just moved, and who undertakes the task of turning Billy into a hip and agile 11-year-old. After Billy’s initial fright, he accepts the ghost’s company and guidance while Hoover, forever age 14, struggles with his own ghostly goals. An amusing cast of broadly drawn secondary characters play their expected roles—snobby older half-sister, embarrassing mother and stepfather, pretty and kind classmate, and neighborhood bully with an embarrassing secret. Readers will root for Billy to conquer his klutziness as well as the bully; his final feel-good triumph is satisfying. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)

Children's Literature - Nancy Garhan Attebury

Moving is not something Billy Broccoli wants to do and the new house is not his idea of a fun place. So Billy flatly refuses to get out of the car once his family pulls up to their new house. However, as Billy sits in the car, Rod Brownstone, the bully from nextdoor, makes an appearance and Billy decides to get out. Billy has a new house to deal with and an unlikeable neighbor. It could not get worse, or could it? Billy discovers his room in the house is purple and it has a teenage ghost—who wants to make Billy a special project. The ghost, Hoover Porterhouse, has been having some difficulty passing his "ghost" lessons and higher up authorities, let Hoover know that he needs to help someone if he is to pass his lessons. With Billy selected Hoover sets out to help him. However, through various incidents, Hoover promptly manages to make Billy's life miserable. Fortunately, that changes as the tale continues and Hoover actually helps Billy make friends in his new middle school. Characters are well-drawn and readers will identify with many of the scenarios introduced. Witty humor abounds and carries this story at a good pace. In addition, it is apparent that Buddy and Hoover will turn up in sequels that promise to be as much fun as other books by Winkler and Oliver. For a fun read, this book hits the mark and will appeal to boys and girls alike. Reviewer: Nancy Garhan Attebury

School Library Journal

Gr 3–5—Eleven-year-old Billy Broccoli's name is only the start of his problems in the coolness department. He's also plagued by a fondness for T-shirts with fart jokes on them, and he has the grace of a clown with two left feet. Now he is starting at a new school, and his supreme dorkiness is sure to cause him trouble. Fortunately, he has an ally: the ghost of 12-year-old Hoover Porterhouse III, who is stuck haunting the house that Billy's family has just moved into. Hoover is the sultan of cool and coaches Billy on what to wear and how to act. Despite his best efforts, though, the boy's first days of school are disastrous, mostly due to a bully named Rod Brownstone. Hoover calls for revenge, but in the end Billy manages to stand up to Rod. Billy is still nerdy at the story's conclusion, but it looks as though Hoover will be sticking around, which means that there may be hope for him yet. This title is chock-full of nuggets that will have boys cheering, from the grossness of Billy's embalmed tonsil to the hilarity of Rod's attachment to his baby blanket. What's more, parents and educators will cheer when Billy stands up to Rod without resorting to bullying tactics. Readers may wonder how Hoover died, but hopefully the authors will reveal more about the sassy apparition as the series progresses.—Amy Holland, Irondequoit Public Library, NY

Kirkus Reviews

Eleven-year-old Billy Broccoli's move up to middle school is complicated by a teenage ghost determined to give him lessons in how to be cool. The nerdy lad already has a lot on his plate: new house (with a bedroom done up in pink and lavender), new stepfather and prickly older stepsister, new school whose principal is his mother and nosy, bullying schoolmate Rod Brownstone for a next-door neighbor. It is understandable, then, that he's only temporarily freaked out when hyperconfident former jock Hoover "The Hoove" Porterhouse III, a ghost killed 99 years ago, swims into view and grandly announces that Billy is his special project. It seems that the Hoove has just one more year to pull up his failing celestial grades in "Responsibility" and "Helping Others" or be tied to that house and surrounding property forever--a fate worse than, well…. As it happens, the schooling goes both ways, and by the end not only has Billy been guided away from wearing fart-joke T-shirts and taking tuna sandwiches for lunch, he's shown the Hoove a better way to get Brownstone off his case than responding in kind when the bully engineers a public humiliation. A purposeful but not simplistic opener from the creators of the Hank Zipzer series. (Fantasy. 10-12)