The+Adventures+of+Beanboy+by+Lisa+Harkrader+(Andy)

Title: The Adventures of Beanboy Author: Lisa Harkrader Genre: Realistic Fiction Nominated by: Andy Dimnaku

Tucker MacBean is a boy who lives only with his mom and younger brother, Beech. After school, he has to take care of his brother because his mom works long hours, since she is the only parent. One day when Tucker was reading his favorite comic, he saw an advertisement for a contest to come up with a sidekick for the comic’s main character, H2O. The winner would get a full college scholarship. Tucker thought he could win the scholarship for his mom so she can go to college, find a better job, and have more time to spend with Tucker and his brother. But Tucker faces some challenges along the way. First, he will need to join the art club to work on his sidekick, Beanboy. Because of that, he also will need to find a babysitter for his brother. Surprisingly, his brother’s babysitter ends up being his all-time enemy, Sam Zawicki, a girl who is often mean to him! Tucker solves these challenges by working really hard and having determination and support of friends and family.

I decided to nominate this book because it kept surprising me when I least expected it. First I started to read the book thinking the main character was a superhero, but when I read further, I was surprised that the book is actually a realistic fiction. Many problems that Tucker faced were surprising to me and they made me wanting to keep reading the book. Tucker’s life is different from any other kid’s life. He does things that ordinary kids do not do, like taking care of his brother and trying to find scholarship money for his mom. But Tucker still finds time to be a regular kid and be a good friend to many, even Sam Zawicki.