Forbidden Journal of Rufus Rumble #1 (Nick Long, illus Robin Tatlow-Lord, Affirm)

Rufus Rumble is not an ordinary boy. For one thing, he’s about to go into space. For another, Rufus lives in a dystopian world where the Throwbackers have taken power and outlawed anything new or educational. After his space-scientist mum mysteriously disappeared, Rufus moved in with his grumpy uncle. However, after Rufus pulls one too many pranks, his uncle sends him on a one-way trip to space. Rufus is relentlessly inventive, friendly and resourceful. He records his misadventures in this journal, filled with doodle-style illustrations by Robin Tatlow-Lord (Nova’s Missing Masterpiece) and lots of broken-down headings and boxes that make it accessible and fun to read. Forbidden Journal of Rufus Rumble is frenetic and wacky, and debut author Nick Long has packed it with lots of zany characters and situations. Added elements, such as the mystery of Rufus’s mother, little movie-style scripts, and the draconian government, will add interest for readers looking to move beyond the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Unfortunately, it also means the book sometimes veers into the disjointed and becomes hard to follow. With more text than usual for illustrated fiction or graphic novels, this junior fiction for those aged 7–9 will appeal to readers of the Treehouse, Tom Gates or Timmy Failure series.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Fay Helfenbaum is a freelance writer and editor and was a bookseller for five years. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Reviews