woot! finished reading The Dangerous Days of Daniel X with boy2001 just now. Let me start off by saying, I LOVE the idea and premise of this book! Getting boys to read is not the easiest thing to do, stories are often too frilly or just “boring” to them, getting the right mix of substance and adventure is not an easy task.
Boy2001 had a strong reaction as soon as he saw the book, it looks grown up, no cartoony characters on the cover, it looks like a man-book which he loved. I sent him in his room to start reading and planned to read it at night while he slept so we could discuss. He wasn’t gone two minutes when he came back and told me he didn’t want to read it. I was perplexed and asked him why and he explained that the parents are killed.
Keep in mind he’s never flat out refused to read something, so I told him to put it down and I’ll read it to him a little later. He again had a strong reaction to the parents being killed (chapter 1) but as the pages turned he slowly became more interested.
The unbelievable aliens were a special interest to boy2001 and of course the made up words like “drangs” which means a friendship bond. He became engrossed in battling aliens and talk of mastodons and ticks. On top of that, which boy doesn’t dream of having secret abilities?
From a mom’s point of view, it was a worthwhile read for boy2001. I had initially planned on him reading this story alone but there are so many themes that require discussion and his reluctance to explore this big boy book on his own required me to read aloud. I did like that this character was able to survive the death of his parents, although we never wish it, things do happen. My son now knows that he can handle anything, even losing us!
It’s a quick enough read but boy2001 wanted to stop and talk about things so it did take us a week of evenings to get through. I’m keeping it on his bookshelf in the closest for another read when he’s older. Let me know your thoughts…
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge available @ Amazon
Described as “Spider-Man meets Men in Black in this heart-stopping novel from James Patterson, author of the bestselling books Maximum Ride and When the Wind Blows. Read an interview on Borders
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