Josh Baster states he’s the new kid in the “new town, new house, new school. And no player’s guide to give me the tips and tricks I need to make it through the year. This is one game I have to figure out how to beat on my own.” (1)

Josh eats, sleeps, and lives video games. It is not the best way to influence people. On the first day, Josh has a run-in with the top football player Schmittendorf, Josh’s new bully, whom the entire school is counting on to win the big football rivalry game for them.  Bad grades at mid-term  Josh’s mother takes away all of his video games and computer until the end of the quarter. “In every adventure game the character starts out at the bottom. A level-one scrub. No skills, powers, or magic items. And if I want to reach the top, to become the hero who could get the grades, beat the bullies, and maybe even impress the princess, there’s only one way. I have to grind my way through the levels. I need to learn the rulebook, earn the experience points, max out my stats, and level up.

I’ve been playing not to lose. It’s time to play to win.” (35)

This is how Josh acts and reacts to all of his real life situations, by comparing them to how videos games work. What would various video game characters do in this or that situation?  The reference to evolving his math skills to Pokemon, made me chuckle. When Josh takes the advice of one character to stand up to bullies, Josh gets into it verbally with ‘Mittens’, who hits Josh in the head before teachers arrive on the scene. Both Josh and Mittens get detention. This means Mittens won’t being playing in the big football game. When the school looses the football game, the entire school seems to turn against Josh.

On the up side, this middle school holds a Video Game Decathlon as a fund raiser for the class trip each spring.  Josh’s new  student English tutor and her friends (the geeks of this story) want to win this year! Mittens and his video gaming group are able to turn the Video Game Decathlon theme into video sports games, which of course Josh’s new friends know basically nothing about. Josh convinces his new friends, one at a time, to enter the Video Game Decathlon because of his knowledge of sports gaming.  When they win the Video Game Decathlon, Mittens is a gracious loser, a true sport.

The video gaming terms and themes give this book a fresh approach to school life and bullying!