Guy Friday- Trapped in a Video Game

Brady, Dustin. Trapped in a Video Game
April 10th 2018 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
Copy provided by the publisher

Jesse is not a fan of video games, but his best friend Eric is obsessed with Full Blast, an alien invasion game that a classmate's father has provided to some of the boys in his son Chris's class. While looking for Eric, Jesse comes upon the game on the television in Eric's basement, and gets sucked into the game! His right hand is replaced by a blaster, and he and Eric have to play the game. As the game proceeds, they find out that a boy who has gone missing in their neighborhood has also been sucked into the game, and they discover that there is a significant bug in the programming that they have to figure out how to fix the game before they are stuck as well. Of course, since this is the first in a five book series, we know that further adventures await the boys. A short lesson at the back of the book on computer coding and how games are put together is interesting.
Strengths: This was about the length of a Jake Maddox sports book, and shares a similiar font size, amount of illustrations, and level of reading difficulty. The story moves along quickly, and Jake and Eric are sympathetic characters. Readers who enjoy video games but who are not strong enough readers for Anderson's fantastic Insert Coin to Continue will adore these books.
Weaknesses: This title is not year listed on Follett, and is published in paperback. While it would make a great gift for a reluctant reader or an addition to a classroom library, it wouldn't hold up to the circulation it would see in my building without being available in prebind.
What I really think:  This is a great choice for readers who are interested in video games but not terribly interested in reading. My students who pick up Patton's Battle Bugs book would be all over this. I will definitely keep my eye on this title, but if an Accelerated Reader test is not available for it, I won't purchase.