The Offenders: Saving the World, While Serving Detention!

by Jerry Craft, Jaylen Craft (With), Aren Craft (With)

Overview

Bullies beware! A freak accident gives five middle school bullies super powers. But instead of being able to transform into cool super-beings, they take on the characteristics of the kids they bully. Sure their abilities may be at an all-time high, but do they really have what it takes to save their school when their self-esteem is at an all-time low? "The Offenders is the best use of detention since The Breakfast Club - funny, exciting, and the most charming thing I've read in ages. Writing something entertaining is tough, but writing something important is even tougher. Jerry and his boys have made it look easy." - Drew Pearce, writer of Iron Man 3

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780979613272
Publisher:	Mama's Boyz, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/22/2014
Edition description:	Signed
Pages:	230
Sales rank:	660,171
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jerry Craft is a #1 New York Times bestselling author-illustrator who has worked on numerous picture books, graphic novels, and middle grade novels, including the Newbery Medal-winning graphic novel New Kid and its companion, Class Act. New Kid is also the winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award and the Kirkus Prize. Jerry is the creator of Mama's Boyz, an award-winning syndicated comic strip. He has won five African American Literary Awards and is a cofounder of the Schomburg Center's Annual Black Comic Book Festival. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and now lives in Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2014
Gr 5–8—Every child dreams of having superpowers and the good they can do with them. The Offenders tackles this idea while taking on the popular topic of bullying. An accident gives five bullies superpowers. Instead of invisibility or the ability to fly, they are given the traits of the kids they torment. When aliens attack the school and threaten the safety of the world, it's up to The Offenders to draw upon their unique abilities to save humanity. Many kids will be turned off by the book's blatantly overt message about bullying (statistics from awareness websites are interspersed throughout) and lengthy explanations of everyday activities come off as didactic. Back matter includes information already known to a wide variety of children including several slang and texting indexes, brief Spanish and Korean glossaries, as well as a custard recipe briefly mentioned in the text. Even though a multiethnic cast of characters will appeal to those serving diverse populations, The Offenders is an uneven addition to an already glutted field of antibullying titles. Black-and-white cartoon-style drawings fit the superhero theme. This is a below-average book tackling issues deftly handled by previous works, such as Eric Kahn Gale's The Bully Book (HarperCollins, 2013) and Lisa Yee's Warp Speed (Scholastic, 2011).—Christopher Lassen, Brooklyn Public Library

School Library Journal