Battle Files: Air by Mac Park

Boy vs Beast. Border Files. Scholastic, 2011. ISBN 978 1 92193 108 6.
(Age: Late junior and middle primary boys) Well recommended. The challenge is to win a Border Guard Wing Badge award. Kai Masters sets a challenging pace as each page unfolds the tasks to be undertaken in order to win a badge. He of course achieves this easily. This novel titled Air, details the environment to be encountered, the amazing yet familiar beasts to be overcome, the weapons to fight with and the strategies needed to win.& Reminiscent of the computer games so popular with young boys, this book sets out to challenge the reader to join the game. Intended to attract boys who can read and are fascinated with science fiction, the novel leaves no stone unturned in the fine detail of each beast, its evolution, weaknesses, and the best way to catch it with 'top tips'. It's a visual feast, cleverly set out with differing fonts to engage the young reader and black and white detailed illustrations which say it all! Font is large and easy to read with short, sharp sentences. The setting out is clear and strong. The invented language is amazing in itself. The Aquamaxitor, as the name suggests 'takes in water through its mouth. It stores this water in the bones of its wings. Then it blasts the water from its wings' p38. The illustrations leave nothing out. There are many in the series and young readers will keenly want to win all the badges.
Sue Nosworthy