GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Danny’s inclination toward dangerous feats makes a school trip one catastrophe after another.

Always up for a thrill, sixth grader Danny, who is white, is excited to go on the end-of-the-year trip to Tickledown Farm. It promises students a chance to “go wild,” with kayaks and rapids, zip lines and treehouses, and even a steep mountain to climb and then jump from the top of. It will also give Danny a break from his older brother and nemesis, Dylan, who’s 18 and about to enter the Army. Though it’s funny at times, the book’s pacing is unfortunately set askew, giving over a third of the book to Danny’s exploits trying to raise money for the trip and often sacrificing logical plot development to a forced cleverness. Unrealistically, Dylan is chosen as a chaperone, and, starting with giving Danny nettles to use as a toilet-paper substitute, he repeatedly sabotages all of Danny’s activities, turning them into disasters. The insistence that readers suspend disbelief remains high throughout, as these city kids don’t seem to know the difference between a cow and a rhinoceros, expect tents to come with light switches and internet modems, and assume they can use Uber while on a hike. The book ends with no real resolution or character growth. The frequent grayscale cartoons present most characters as white, with a few side characters of color.

Unfortunately unsuccessful in its absurdity.