Cactus Kid and the Battle for Star Rock Mountain

Genre

Comics & Graphic Novels

Age range(s)

Publisher

Flying Eye Books

ISBN

9781913123215

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

07-03-2024

Synopsis

Cactus Kid has exiled himself to the Neverending Desert to master magic and prove to his all-powerful father that he is the best wizard alive. All he needs is a piece of star rock to supercharge his magic, but he's not the only one after it. Caught in the crossfire between rival gangs of the Clams and the Shells, he must compete in the epic and death-defying moto-brawl race to get a single slice of the star rock.

Meanwhile, a shadowy lizard figure is scouring the desert. Armed with a mystical compass, this bounty hunter is searching for any magic he can get his hands on. Once the Moto-Brawl begins Cactus Kid learns that sometimes even lone heroes need allies. But will he and his new-found friends be able to see off the competition and the mysterious bounty hunter to emerge victorious before sunset?

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Reviews

This feisty graphic novel is described as a mission to be the best wizard in the world world in the blurb, and it does not disappoint. There is magic, motorcycles and adventure throughout as Cactus Kid tries to attain his must desired chunk of star rock to complete his wizard training. Little does he know that he cannot achieve this alone and he has to work alongside others. Without giving the game away, this story feels very much like a computer game written as a story and my class loved it. Can Cactus Kid find the star rock? You’ll have to read to find out.

The illustrations in Cactus Kid and the Battle for Star Rock Mountain are simple yet detailed enough to support those children who need it with following the story. There is a vivid mixture of single page, double page and cartoon strip pages throughout the book to maintain the children's interest. The backgrounds are mostly plain, leaving space for the characters to be involved in the action. All in all I would recommend this book for 7+ age children and encourage any child (or adult!) reading it to have fun with all the sound effects.

As a teacher, this book is also so useful for developing the children's knowledge of how to set out speech and for those working in upper key stage 2, writing the text as a play script could be a great unit of work. There is also the opportunity to discuss the fabulous onomatopoeia which is peppered liberally throughout the book. Such an interesting way to introduce this concept to the children.

164 pages / Reviewed by Sharon Porter, teacher