Written by Gavin Brown
Josh Baxter Levels Up is about a middle school student who has had to move several times in the last couple of years since his father has died and as his mother looks for a better job. He is once again starting at a new school with no friends and gets behind in his school work. He uses all his spare time playing video games. As his grades plummet and he makes an enemy of the football star he begins to use skills and tricks he has learned from playing video games to meet the challenges he is facing and become a hero instead of a loser. Gavin Brown does a great job incorporating video game language and characters that will be definitely speak to video gamers. But at the same time those who rarely play video games (like myself) get enough information to be able to follow the story and enjoy it. It’s a fun, relatable and frank story of how someone can deal with the pitfalls of life in a positive way. I feel like a lot of students will enjoy reading this book. I definitely would recommend purchasing this for your library.
Review by Leslie Benson, Diamond Ridge Elementary Media Center
Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5 stars)
Interest Level: Grades 5-8
Josh Baxter Levels Up
Written by Gavin Brown
Scholastic Press
172 pages
Release Date: February 23, 2016
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
Thanks for your review.
Thanks for this great review. With so many kids into video games, this would be a big hit.
I think this book might be a huge hit with our population. We’ve got a lot of kids that move frequently. They might like reading a book about a kid like them.
Sounds like a great book to recommend to those who love video games.