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17th out of 23 books
—
6 voters
The Adventures of Beanboy
Never underestimate the power of the bean. Tucker MacBean has been drawing comic books almost as long as he’s been reading them. When his favorite comic has a contest for kids, he hopes he has finally found a way to fix his family—all he has to do is create the winning superhero sidekick . . . Introducing “Beanboy”—the first comic book character to truly harness the power...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
February 14th 2012
by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
(first published February 9th 2012)
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I was pleasantly surprised by this one. This was another one I picked up from the Scholastic book order because it looked like my 4th grade boys would enjoy it. Before sticking it in the classroom library, I gave it a read so I could talk it up. Now I will definitely be recommending it to my 4th grade boys and girls.
It's a sweet story about a boy, Tucker, who wants to help his mom quit her job so she can spend more time with him and his little brother. In order to do this, he's convinced that h...more
It's a sweet story about a boy, Tucker, who wants to help his mom quit her job so she can spend more time with him and his little brother. In order to do this, he's convinced that h...more
I really like how this book dealt with so many issues without being "preachy". Our main character, Tucker, lives with his single mom and special needs brother. They struggle for money all the time because mom is going to school AND working a full-time job at a bank. On top of this difficult home life Tucker also faces typical challenges at school with bullying and liking a girl who doesn't like him back.
Tucker is a HUGE comic book fan and is an artist himself. He finds out about a comic contest...more
Tucker is a HUGE comic book fan and is an artist himself. He finds out about a comic contest...more
What is the true heart of a hero? Thirteen-year-old Tucker MacBean desperately needs to know. If he can create a sidekick for the superhero H20 and win the Dark Overlord Comics contest, he can win a college scholarship and give it to his mom. Then she won’t have to work full time in addition to taking college classes. She will be able to put in personal appearances at home while awake. Tucker has been reading and drawing comics for as long as he can remember but his own superpowers —turning invi...more
The Adventures of Beanboy by Lisa Harkrader
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780547550787
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date: 2/14/2012
Pages: 240
Age range: 9 – 12 Years
Summary: Tucker MacBean is in middle school. He’s not unpopular, but he’s not popular either. Honestly, he does all that he can to just be invisible, especially from the school bully Sam. Tucker rushes home everyday to make sure he takes care of his special needs brother because his mother works and goes to school. Tu...more
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780547550787
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date: 2/14/2012
Pages: 240
Age range: 9 – 12 Years
Summary: Tucker MacBean is in middle school. He’s not unpopular, but he’s not popular either. Honestly, he does all that he can to just be invisible, especially from the school bully Sam. Tucker rushes home everyday to make sure he takes care of his special needs brother because his mother works and goes to school. Tu...more
Seventh grader Tucker MacBean is a good son and a loving brother, but he finds it hard to stick up for himself. When he sees how hard his mother tries to make ends meet while working and attending classes, he decides to enter a comic book contest, under her name, in order to win a scholarship. Readers will enjoy the superhero he dreams up, the legume-base Beanboy, who is powered by gas. Adding interest to the story is Sam Zawicki, a classmate who seems ready to fight and insult everyone who come...more
Tucker MacBean loves comics, takes care of his developmentally-challenged younger brother, burns grilled cheese sandwiches in Home Ec, wishes his single mom could find a way between work and school to spend more time with him, and has found a nemesis in Sam, a girl who wears combat boots. Now he's entering a contest to design a new sidekick for his favorite comic book hero, H20 -- will his creation Beanboy save the day?
Like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, this is a book about the co...more
Like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, this is a book about the co...more
Tucker loves reading and drawing comics, hanging out with his friend Noah, and his family. Unfortunately, things are very difficult right now, because his father has left and moved away, his mother is struggling to keep up with a full time job and college course work, and Tucker has to spend a lot of time taking care of his younger, developmentally delayed brother Beecher. To make matters worse, he has to put up with a variety of bullies at school. When he decides to enter a contest to create a...more
A lot has changed in Tucker MacBean`s life lately. His parents are divorced. Tucker’s dad moved to Boston. Tucker, his mother, and younger, special-needs brother, Beech, moved into a cheap second floor apartment. Tucker`s mother works and attends college full-time; she is now more of a rumor than a parent in the house. But Tucker hasn`t changed. He still buys every new issue of the comic book featuring his hero, H2O, the day it arrives in the comic shop. Then Tucker discovers that H2O could real...more
A sweet story that also contains fart jokes: jackpot!
This book could provide a great bridge for comic book/graphic novel fans who are being encouraged to check out more traditional books. Tucker MacBean, the main character, lives for the new issues of his favorite superhero comic - the adventures of H2O! - so when the publishers announce a contest to design H2O's new sidekick, it seems like it could be just what he needs. After all, the prize is a scholarship, which his mother could use to quit...more
This book could provide a great bridge for comic book/graphic novel fans who are being encouraged to check out more traditional books. Tucker MacBean, the main character, lives for the new issues of his favorite superhero comic - the adventures of H2O! - so when the publishers announce a contest to design H2O's new sidekick, it seems like it could be just what he needs. After all, the prize is a scholarship, which his mother could use to quit...more
Seventh-grader Tucker has his hands full dealing with middle school and being the mostly full-time caretaker of his younger brother, who is developmentally challenged. Money is an issue for his family, so he decides to enter a comic book contest in hopes of winning some. Since he pretty much sees the world as a comic book, he figures he has a good shot. Easier said than done, however. The real focus of the book, however, is on his relationships with his mom and brother and the bully Sam(antha) w...more
Sweet, feel-good story of a boy who is trying to win a comic-book contest to help his struggling family. The characters are life-like and the situations feel real, though the almost-too-good-to-be-true ending might be a little hard to swallow. I enjoyed the pages of Tucker's comic scattered throughout the text, and I liked the quiet moments of humor, such as Tucker's description of the scariest girl at school: "She didn't walk like a girl or talk like a girl or dress like a girl or hit people li...more
Put together a boy who likes to draw and the potential for farts and you've got my kind of book. Tucker MacBean hopes that creating a new sidekick for one of his favorite super heroes will make him a winner of the Dark Overlord comic contest. He's got the drawing talent, but has to figure out what's at the heart for his superhero sidekick. There's a girl in the story ... and she's a bully; there's a family dilemma ... and it feels real. And there are some scenes leading up to the seventh grade d...more
Questions: Do you ever try to be invisible?
Ever feel invisible and wish you weren't?
I really like how this family deals with their special needs son. There's no whining; the mom doesn't even seem to mention him especially on her scholarship letter. They are just very matter-of-fact about his needs: not a lot of change, smiley faces on his food, going up stairs backwards on his butt. What did you think of Beecher?
Make yourself a superhero file: name, base, superpower, super weapon, origin.
What...more
Ever feel invisible and wish you weren't?
I really like how this family deals with their special needs son. There's no whining; the mom doesn't even seem to mention him especially on her scholarship letter. They are just very matter-of-fact about his needs: not a lot of change, smiley faces on his food, going up stairs backwards on his butt. What did you think of Beecher?
Make yourself a superhero file: name, base, superpower, super weapon, origin.
What...more
Very lighthearted contemporary Middle Grade, somewhat silly, but never laugh out loud.
When I read that he had a special needs little brother, I was like, "Oh, that's what this books 'thing' is going to be." Which, btw, would be fine, but I was pleasantly surprised that little bro just exists and never becomes "issue-y."
The ending was a little sappy sweet for me. I'd rather give it 3 1/2 stars, but I halfed up rather than down.
When I read that he had a special needs little brother, I was like, "Oh, that's what this books 'thing' is going to be." Which, btw, would be fine, but I was pleasantly surprised that little bro just exists and never becomes "issue-y."
The ending was a little sappy sweet for me. I'd rather give it 3 1/2 stars, but I halfed up rather than down.
Seventh-grader Tucker MacBean loves to read comic books so when he reads about a contest to create a sidekick for his favorite comic superhero, he knows he can win. I would recommend this middle grade story to students who have read all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and want something like it. The story is better, I think, because it explores Tucker's relationship with his brother and the bully who is also his brother's babysitter.
Beanboy was perhaps one of my favorite books I read this spring. I loved the thoughtfulness of Tucker and how he decided to use his comic for good. I enjoyed getting to know his nemesis Sam Zawicki and how they began to get past their differences. But not completely, which makes this ring a bit more true. Nothing changes relationships overnight. Great story!
almost put it down in disguest when the boy gets bullied in private by a girl (just stick of kids not standing up for themselves the theme is overdone) but i kept reading and im so GLAD that i did! read this book! you will like it if you're a boy or a girl. great comics sprinkiled thru out to keep ur atten that way too.
A young boy decides to enter a comic book character creation contest. The search for the "heart" of his character is paralleled in personal decisions he must make as he negotiates bullies, mean girls, watching his special needs brother and missing his hard-working mother. This is a solid story with depth.
Decent, but predictable story about a boy who has to care for his younger brother while his harried mother tries to work and go to school. He learns that all is not as it seems with the bully at school. More serious than humorous, but the boy's comic book drawings interspersed with the story were fun.
Loved this book and will recommend to many (mostly) boys. A kid whose home life is a little chaotic (parents newly separated, brother with autism/cerebral palsy type mental illness) hopes to create a superhero sidekick to win a contest that will provide him with a full college scholarship. Will he succeed?
Wheaton, Kansas seventh-grader Tucker MacBean loves comic books, so when his favorite comic has a contest to create a sidekick, he is hopeful that he can win, thereby fixing his struggling family.
Looks like this is going to be a series!!
Looks like this is going to be a series!!
There's a good book trapped inside overly long exposition, with an interesting premise about the life of kids of single parents and absentee parents, and some fun comic stuff as well, but it just doesn't add up to a great book.
Great book! I loved reading this YA fiction book as an adult. The illustrations are so cute and make the story that much better. A great book on single parent homes, disability awareness, heart of a hero, and comics.
When I grabbed this off the new books shelf at my local library, I was expecting low brow humor and hijinks. What a pleasant surprise to find a unique story, with endearing characters and a heart of gold.
Tucker MacBean, loser dweeb and creator of sidekick Beanboy, grows a superhero heart in a worthy successor to "The strange case of origami Yoda" and companion to Stantat's "Sidekicks"
(4.5 stars)Tucker MacBean wishes he had superpowers like the superheroes he is a huge fan of in the comics he reads. If he did, he could alleviate his single mom’s worries, he could deal with a bully named Sam, maybe he could get pretty Emily to notice him, and he could show the students at his school he is not so geeky.
I enjoyed this book because it is about a boy that creates a superhero sidekick for a comic book and his issues along the way
What 12 year old boy wouldn't like a story about a superhero who gets his power from beans and the gas they produce?
Read my review at Let's Talk Books
This story is so cute and a lesson to the kids who sacrifice it all to help there family! A superhero made to help a family!
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