All things Black Panther and Marvel are the rage right now. My coworkers put this book on display to capitalize on the buzz around the movie earlier this year.The movie starts in media res and we meet T'Challa as an adult, fully formed Black Panther. In this middle grade novel, Smith re imagines life for a younger version of the Wakandan prince. T'Challa is not the Black Panther yet and in truth, he is still learning about himself and his role as a prince. This means sitting in on long ceremonies and dealing with his father's adopted son, Hunter. He can count n one friend however, M'Baku with whom he can do boyish escapades.
When there is some turmoil in the kingdom, T'Challa's father decides to send him to Chicago under an assumed identity. M'Baku is sent to accompany the young prince and soon the two boys find themselves finding their way in the various social hierarchies in the school. As in any school there are various cliques but one such clique is weird and a little dangerous, just like their leader Gemini Jones. That's not all, weird stuff starts happening at school and T'Challa must decide if he should use his Wakandan technology and risk revealing his true identity.
Overall I think this is a great read for middle grades and I especially like that it features young people of color. Some read alikes are Junior Hero Blues by J.K. Pendragon, V is for Villain by Peter Moore and Sidekicked by John David Anderson and Powerless by Matthew Cody.
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