Stuntboy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds (review)

Portico Reeves lives in “a giant castle . . . made from the glassiest glass and the brickiest bricks on Earth.” Skylight Gardens apartment, towering over the city and boasting “one hundred windows,” “at least a million steps,” and plenty of interesting neighbors, is pretty much all the residence a kid could want. Unfortunately, one particular occupant, Herbert Singletary, is out to make life miserable for Portico and his best friend, Zola. Fired up by their common passion for Super Space Warriors (and by Portico’s longing for a role in a superhero universe), the friends envision Portico as Stuntboy, a sort of caped guardian who does the physical dirty work of intervention so that superheroes will be safe. Stuntboy’s skills are needed now more than ever to defuse his parents’ fights over personal property as they prepare for a separation that’s obvious to everyone but Portico. Reynolds keeps the cast of this illustrated novel tight enough for a bit of character development, which gives needed weight to patterned episodes in which Portico encounters a misunderstanding, Zola reminds him of a similar episode in Super Space Warriors, and Stuntboy rushes in to save the day. The predictability may quickly wear thin for some middle grade readers, but the presentation is successfully buoyed by the interplay of Portico’s overly literal tendencies (e.g., he understands “in the meantime” to allude to his parents’ “mean time” skirmishes) and by Raúl the Third’s ebullient digital illustrations, which shine as a love letter to working class urban life.