Jump On Grunberg's Dream Jumper

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Dream Jumper by Greg Grunberg and Lucas Tumbloom

Fresh from Scholastic's Graphix imprint comes this full-color graphic novel, DREAM JUMPER: NIGHTMARE ESCAPE. And what's even better, while it's a series, it's the first of the series, so you're getting in at just the right time.

DREAM JUMPER tells the story of Ben Maxwell, a kid who has trouble sleeping because he is plagued with strange dreams. But they're not just his dreams -- he also enters the dreams of others, like his best friend who knows of Ben's ability and thinks they should incorporate to capitalize off of it.

Ben's nightmare begins when his mother schedules him an appointment with a sleep specialist, out of concern of Ben failing his classes due to his lack of good sleep. Ben is against it. But when he learns that the girl he has a crush on, Kaylee, is one of the latest patients in the facility's Ward Z for those who have entered sub-REM sleep and can't be awakened, he gathers his courage to enter the dream world again in the hope of rescuing her. What he learns is that he has a legacy, a legacy that answers (and raises) questions about his missing father and grandfather.

Writer Greg Grunberg (LOST, HEROES, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS) spins a yarn that takes off at breakneck pace and never lets up. Lucas Tumbloom's artwork is the perfect style for this type of fiction, and together the two creators have produced a graphic novel that reads like some of the best of Doug TenNapel. The colors from Guy Major really make the artwork pop off the page and into the reader's imagination. It's a great read that will have middle-schoolers (and out-of-schoolers) turning pages fast enough to create a breeze.

Grade: 
5.0 / 5.0