Antarctic Attack

Gr 2–4—Homeschooler Axel Brayburn keeps to himself, playing video games in his bedroom and rarely going outside until the day a large robot crashes into his life. BEAST, a Battle-Enabled Armored Shifter Transport, escaped from Grabbem Industries because he objected to the nefarious missions the company wanted him to execute. Axel's mom, Nedra, a mechanic, is less than enthusiastic about their guest until BEAST projects a hologram of Agent Omega, a Grabbem employee dedicated to sabotaging the evil corporation and their environment-destroying endeavors. Agent Omega enlists Axel to utilize his gaming skills, pilot BEAST, and save the earth. The first volume, The Grabbem Getaway, introduces Axel, a dark-skinned boy who is homeschooled because he was badly bullied at school. (His father mysteriously disappeared one night.) The next two books in the series, Antarctic Attack and Tropical Tangle, involve Alex and BEAST being deployed by Agent Omega to stop Grabbem's attacks on the environment. In Robotic Rumble, Axel teams up with Yumi Minamoto and her own shape-shifting robot to keep Grabbem away from a dangerous experimental reactor. The books are loaded with cartoon violence. Serious injuries are nonexistent as Axel repeatedly bests his nemesis, the spoiled Gus Grabbem, Jr. Only in volume four does the series return to the mystery of Axel's missing father, as well as introduce some character development for Axel, as he learns to make nonrobotic friends.