Teen Boat! The Race for Boatlantis

by Dave Roman, John Green (Illustrator)

Overview

Praise for Teen Boat!

 “While I am not the John Green who illustrated this book, I am a John Green who ABSOLUTELY LOVES the unadulterated brilliance that is Teen Boat!” —John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars

Teen Boat has always felt different from the other kids, which makes sense, since he’s the only one who can transform into a yacht. Now, just before his high school graduation, he embarks on an epic quest of self-discovery. He learns of a mysterious city called Boatlantis, where boats are at the top of the social ladder. Can it be true? Has he finally found the place where a half boy/half boat belongs? Or will he always be torn between two worlds?

  

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547865638
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Dave Roman is the creator of the graphic novel series Astronaut Academy and Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery. He has contributed stories to Comic Squad: Recess!,Explorer: The Lost Islands, and is the co-author of two New York Times bestselling graphic novels, X-Men: Misfits and The Last Airbender: Zuko’s Story. He is also the writer of Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden, which he co-created with John Green when they were students at the School of Visual Arts. Dave worked as an editor for the groundbreaking Nickelodeon magazine and lives in New York City with his wife and fellow cartoonist, Raina Telgemeier. See more of Dave’s work at www.yaytime.com

John Green grew up on Long Island and has worked in New York City since graduating from the School of Visual Arts with a degree in graphic design. He was the comics consultant for Disney Adventures magazine and has also worked on comics for Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, Scholastic, DC Comics, and First Second Books. His latest project is Hippopotamister, his first graphic novel as both writer and artist. John lives in Brooklyn, and you can see more of his work at www.johngreenart.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Younger teens and tweens will enjoy the numerous boat puns and the bright, cheerful cartoon illustrations. With its wholesome hero and high school love triangles, this work is "Archie" with boats. A light, silly read with middle school appeal."
—School Library Journal

"Exactly as ridiculous as it ought to be."
—Kirkus

"Everything about this book was PERFECT! . . . It was funny, and everything worked really well. Nothing disappointed me. The book was exactly as advertised.
—Thadeus S., age 14

Praise for Teen Boat!: The Race for Boatlantis

“Funny, beautifully illustrated, and full of heart.”
—Gene Luen Yang,  creator of Printz Award winner American Born Chinese and National Book Award finalist Boxers and Saints
 
“Teen Boat is hilarious, beautifully drawn, and makes me nostalgic about high school. It is exactly the kind of comic book my friends and I would laugh over and celebrate during lunchtime. I highly recommend it!”
—Kazu Kibuishi,  creator of the New York Times bestselling Amulet series
 
“So much fun! Teen angst, star-crossed romance, nautical puns, missing parents, evil villains, and the secret of the mysterious world of talking boats, Teen Boat 2 has it all. And gorgeously illustrated, too.”
—Faith Erin Hicks,  Eisner Award-winning author of The Adventures of Superhero Girl

Praise for Teen Boat!

“While I am not the John Green who illustrated this book, I am a John Green who ABSOLUTELY LOVES the unadulterated brilliance that is Teen Boat.”
—John Green,  bestselling author of The Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns

From the Publisher

Teen Boat, also known as TB, is the name of a high school senior who has the ability to transform himself into a boat—specifically, a very nice yacht. Everyone in town knows about him and his ability and life is not really so bad; but TB is having identity problems. Is he a boy or a boat? How does he fit in? It does not help that he has a crush on the school beauty, a girl named Niña Pinta Santa Maria; or that his best friend, a girl named Joey, can turn into an iceberg—literally. The senior prom and graduation loom on the horizon. Throw in a teenage antagonist, some evil adults, a race to a magical city under the sea, an epic battle between good and evil, a whole lot of other characters and adventures, and you get the idea. The story and plot owe much to previous SF adventure movies and comics, but the premise and the wacky nautical humor are enough to set it apart from the rest of the crowd. Pre-teens who enjoy good jokes and puns, and who can readily accept the premise that a teenager can turn himself into a yacht and no one cares, will enjoy this book. The illustrations are good, neither too busy nor too colorful; and many of the panels tell the story without using any words at all. Certainly one of the more unusual entries in the crowded graphic novel market, Teen Boat! will amuse and entertain readers who like Batman-type adventures. Reviewer: Leona Illig; Ages 9 to 12.

Children's Literature - Leona Illig

09/01/2015
Gr 5–8—Teen Boat, a teen boy who can transform into a yacht, returns for another adventure in this sequel to Teen Boat! (Clarion, 2012). When given the chance to live full-time as a boat in Boatlantis with his submarine father, he is torn. Is he a boat or a boy? Teen Boat also finds a nemesis in TeenBot, a boy who's part-boy, part-robot, and part captain's chair. Then Teen Boat finds out that his best friend Joey descends from a boat's mortal enemy: icebergs. Older, savvier readers may not embrace the goofy concept, but younger tweens and teens will enjoy the numerous boat puns and the bright, cheerful cartoon illustrations. With its wholesome hero and high school love triangles, this work is "Archie" (DC Comics) with boats. VERDICT A light, silly read with middle school appeal.—Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library

School Library Journal

2015-06-23
The Teen Boat graphic novels have such a perfect premise that they almost don't read as parody. The main character of the series turns into a boat when he gets water in his ear. It's not much sillier than the Ranma 1/2 comics, whose characters can switch gender or turn into pandas. But the concept is so hilarious that no story could possibly live up to it. Where do you go after someone has turned into a boat? In this case, Teen Boat joins the football team, competes in a boat race, and tries to find other boats like him. It's engaging enough but not especially funny. There are, of course, puns, and they're all unforgivable. ("I've always been the boat of everyone's jokes.") A greater problem than bad puns is that Teen Boat's actions are often indefensible. He passes over his best friend to date a cheerleader, then immediately asks his friend to dump her date and dance with him. The plot moves much too slowly, but sometimes the book is exactly as ridiculous as it ought to be. When Teen Boat is stranded in the middle of a dry football field, with a tiny team uniform on his prow, even a terrible pun can't spoil the joke. Bright spots aside, this parody of self-obsessed teen protagonists is so successful it gives readers no cause to root for the hero. (Graphic fantasy. 12-15)

Kirkus Reviews