No Fear!

Gr 4–6—Steve is a self-proclaimed benchwarmer. He's a realist whose astute yet sanguine comments about life at Spiro T. Agnew Middle School make him more Forrest Gump than Greg Heffley. In this series starter, Steve, an only child with zero athletic ability, faces baseball tryouts after a career in youth sports where "every kid gets on a team, every kid plays and every kid gets a trophy." As he eyes the competition, he calculates the odds that he and his fellow "benchkateers," Joey Linguini and Carlos Diaz, have of making the cut. He'd really like to be a "Mighty Plumber" and tries to impress Coach Earwax, so named by Steve for the man's penchant for digging the stuff out of his ears with his car keys. Despite a humorously disastrous tryout, Steve and his pals make the team. Steve, who is prone to exclaim "Derp!" whenever things don't go quite as planned, inserts a number of "Quick Time-Outs" into his narrative to explain a few side stories, signaled by a change in font. Author/cartoonist Moore generously punctuates Steve's hilarious tale with black-and-white spot art featuring googly-eyed characters. Sad sack adults slouch with bulging middles, and there are plenty of sight gags, such as errant key chains hanging out of ears. This title joins a crowded field of books with "Wimp appeal."