(We’re back… had a great time. Will post more on the trip later.)

A review for MotherTalk

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, by James Patterson

This book is part of a project initiated by bestselling author James Patterson. His goal is to encourage the publication of books that will appeal to boys, who are reading less than they used to (and less than girls do). One of the reasons, according to surveys, is a lack of stuff that appeals to them. My husband wonders whether this is really true—he read tons of books as a child, and there was no shortage. On the other hand, he is a natural reader. He’s also a self-described geek who found classics like the Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown appealing in their quaintness, and I’m not sure most boys today would have the same reaction. I also found while putting together the series on spiritual themes in children’s literature, that there seemed to be way more books with female protagonists than male ones.

At any rate, I signed up for this book tour because I am the mother of a boy, and while SBJ is probably genetically destined to be a reader, anything that might encourage boys in general to read is a good thing in my book.

The book jacket describes this book as “Spider-Man meets Men in Black,” and that’s about right. Daniel X is an Alien Hunter who comes from a family of alien hunters. His parents were killed when he was three, but not before passing on crucial information to Daniel on how to carry on the family business.

Daniel has a particularly cool superpower—the ability to rearrange atoms to create anything he wants. This gives him great skills in combat, but it also allows him to create a family or peer group whenever he wants one—and also to de-create them whenever he’d rather be left alone, and isn’t that every adolescent’s dream scenario?

Granted, the boy in my life is only 8 months old, but I think that boys around 10 years old and up will find Daniel very appealing. The authors (Patterson worked Michael Ledwidge) worked hard to get the voice of an adolescent boy down pat, which alternates between exuberance, vulnerability and self-conscious cool. The book is not dumbed down, but is very culturally specific, with talk of iPods and such. There is a good mix of action, a bit of creepy suspense, humor, and even some very touching parts near the end when Daniel finally finds a sense of home. But don’t tell the boys that.