Peng!: Action Sports Adventures!

Gr 5-8–The members of the Foot Knux, an advanced kickball team from the All-World School of Sportsmanship, battle it out with supernatural powers in hopes of winning the championship. Talented in a variety of fringe sports, including Hacky Sack and break dancing, the athletes learn to master their special moves and beat their competitors no matter the stakes. This is an adrenaline rush of a graphic novel, focusing more on battle scenes than character or world development. Although limited to three colors, the artwork is intense and chaotic with dramatic linework, and readers will have to pay close attention to characters’ hair and clothing to keep track of them. In the tradition of shonen manga and kung fu movies, the stories are all about defeating the opponent, no matter the odds, in the coolest (and oftentimes the most unapologetically absurd) way possible. All of this, along with the host of slang terms and the unique handles of each character, makes this title well suited to advanced graphic novel readers.