Book Review: And Then, Boom!
#CYBILS2024 Poetry Novel in Verse Nominee
And Then, Boom!
Lisa Fipps
Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Random House, 2024
Joe Oak is used to living on unsteady ground. His mom can’t be depended on; she never stays around long once she gets “the itch.” Now he and his grandmother find themselves without a home. Fortunately, Joe has an outlet in his journals and drawings and takes comfort from the lessons of comic books—superheroes have a lot of “and then, boom” moments, where everything threatens to go bust but somehow they land on their feet. And that seems to happen a lot to Joe, too. The struggle to feed himself gets intense, and Joe finds himself dumpster diving for meals. He’s never felt so alone—until an emaciated little dog and her two tiny pups cross his path. And fate has even more in store for Joe, because an actual tornado is about to hit home—and just when it seems all is lost, his life turns in a direction that he never could have predicted.1
audience: Middle Grade
tags: family, poetry, realistic fiction, social issues
Gary Anderson (YA Fiction Judge, CYBILS Awards Board Member)
And Then, Boom! is a middle-grade verse novel that is simultaneously heart-breaking and inspirational. It gives readers insights into hunger, homelessness, abandonment, and foster care while also providing reminders about resilience, friendship, ingenuity, and kindness. Lisa Fipps absolutely gets what poetry needs to be like in middle grade verse novels. Recurring themes, motifs, and phrases stitch together the novel in ways that help young readers feel like validated as accomplished readers when they understand how the book comes together.
Read Gary’s full review at What’s Not Wrong blog
Sondy Eklund (YA Speculative Fiction Chair)
Lisa Fipps knows how to wrench your heart! It's fair that Lisa Fipps put such hard things into a book, because I know full well that there are kids out there dealing with problems like this. May I take the story to heart and look for ways to make life better for kids in such situations. May this book give us all a little more empathy.
Read Sondy’s full review at Sonderbooks blog
Joyce Uglow (Poetry Judge)
I know that a book is a five star read when I linger on the last words and then immediately start rereading the first. AND THEN, BOOM! is a novel in verse that is bound to hook readers on the genre. Lisa Fipps writes with an unforgettable style. Her use of intentionality is beautiful. Her page turns, line break spacing, foreshadowing, metaphors, wishes, and unfortunate realities provide a [plethora of] you-must-read-this-book-reasons. Every last word adds up to down-right excellence. I know I will gift this book over and over again.
Read Joyce’s reviews at her blog and also at Goodreads
Bookcover image, blurb, and tags sourced to Goodreads.com