  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 05/15/2018 Pulling the rug out from under a conventional scenario, the protagonist of this latest Jimmy book campaigns to be sent back to his literally gray and dismal police state planet after an illegal display of imagination lands him in a camp for misfits. To be sure, Norbert does have an ulterior motive: to track down his parents, who were arrested years before by the Truth Police. But the 12-year-old exile has a natural talent for improv and a satiric impersonation of the United States of Earth’s megalomaniac Loving Leader. In no time, he’s hosting a Saturday Night Live–style TV show that becomes a huge hit on two planets and portends (perhaps in sequels) revolution. Loving Leader’s big-screen rants clearly tweaks 1984, but even readers unfamiliar with that classic will chortle at the relentless wordplay, a supporting cast made up almost entirely of caricatured grown-ups and young pranksters, and Norbert’s winning mix of glibness and gullibility. Aly’s scribbly ink-and-wash line drawings add punchlines as well as comical portraits of the major characters. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Like the rest of his canon, Patterson’s middle-grade titles fly off the shelves. This latest from his eponymous imprint will do just fine. - Copyright 2018 Booklist. Loading...
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