HILO – The Boy Who Crashed To Earth
By Judd Winick
Random House Children’s Books
193 pages
What we have with this charming, wonderfully illustrated hardback book is a marriage between traditional children’s books and your standard graphic novel. Formatted like a comic but capturing the essence of a children’s book intended to amuse, enlighten and teach all in a colorful, fantastic, exuberant story. “HILO – The Boy Who Crashed To Earth,” marvelously captures the joy of childhood complete with its fears, innocence and abounding sense of wonder.
As a child, we truly believe anything is possible, including the fanciful premise of this tale; a strange boy from another world falls out of the sky and instantly ingratiates himself with two earth kids quickly becoming their new remarkable friend.
You would think HILO is the main character in this sci-fi kids’ adventure but not true. The real star of the story is young Daniel Jackson Lim, better known to his family and friends as D.J. He’s one of five children and believes he is the only one without any special talents. His brothers and sisters all excel in either sports or academics but not poor D.J. He’s just an average boy and that lack of self-worth bothers him terribly.
It is only when he meets the “Boy Who Crashed To Earth,” that D.J. is thrust into having to exceed his own expectations that he is forced to reevaluate his true self and therein discovers own, unique gifts.
We cannot recommend this book highly enough. The story and art are superb and will delight both young and old readers alike. For you parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, we cannot imagine any young boy or girl not being thrilled to have a copy. And yes, the book is available from Amazon. Get it now! You can thank us later.
