Summary
Cat – 12 years old. Daughter of 2 famous comics writers. Geekicon pro. And this year at Geekicon, she is determined to win the Quest – an unsanctioned scavenger hunt set at the con. Winners get to do charity work for a week with a major movie star.
Alex – Cat’s twin brother. Artist. Gamer. On the autism spectrum. Megafan of Epic, the comic. Alex would be happy to spend the day in Artist’s Alley talking to other creators. But at Geekicon, he can get the autograph of his favorite artist. The fact that he can use that opportunity to help his sister in the Quest is icing on the cake.
Fi – 14 years old. The twins’ older sister. Charged with watching them at the con. If she can show her responsibility here, her parents might let her go on a camping trip with the cool kids from school. But first she has to survive the wall-to-wall people at the smelly nerdfest – and not lose track of the twins.
Review
This was SO FUN! I am a huge fan of comic and fan conventions. And a huge fan of books set at conventions. This is a great addition to that book niche. The convention here is clearly a SDCC-ish event, although the description easily fit my smaller con experience, too. Con fans will recognize the cosplay, con food, the thrill of discovering a new artist, and meeting a celebrity experiences. There’s tons to love here!
Alex, Cat and Fi take turns telling the story, which is great. There’s a lot of sibling stuff going on here. Alex wants Cat to treat him as an equal partner. Cat is so used to behavioral hiccups with Alex that she bulldozes over him a lot of the time. This dynamic between Cat and Alex was one of my favorite parts of the book. And Fi is so desperate to fit in with the popular kids, it makes her a tyrant with her younger siblings at this convention. Fi changes the most over the course of the story, but Alex and Cat get to grow as well.
At times, the Quest feels like it’s taking the fun out of the con. Cat gets so driven that she rushes Alex away from things he enjoys but aren’t achieving anything for her. Thankfully, the scavenger hunt is only during one day of the event, so there’s always hope that they will get to just enjoy themselves after it’s over. There’s a lot of push and pull here about the goals of the characters for this event.
I’m not used to middle grade books having romantic plot lines beyond crushes. I read another one this year where there was a romance between the main characters, and for me it felt like it pushed the audience up into the 10-14 range rather than the typical 8-12 for middle grade. I tend to fall on the more conservative side, though, when it comes to dating and boyfriends/girlfriends in elementary school. That said, there is a romantic element here between Fi and a girl she knows from school who is at the convention. The fact that Fi is a point of view character draws the romance a little closer to the reader. But the fact that Fi is older might also give it some distance for the typical middle grade reader. It’s something to keep in mind. Third graders reading middle grade might have a different reaction to the romantic plot than 6th graders. Personally, I would set this for the older 10-14 crowd.
Convention fans should be sure to check this one out. I enjoyed the journey with Alex, Cat and Fi, especially in 2020 when the only cons we are attending are virtual! (LGBTQ+)
Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*
*♥♥♥♥½ = Loved it! Would re-read.