Jack Gets Zapped! by Mac Barnett

Jayce Senter is the lead librarian at Fort Worth Christian School. She has taught primary aged students for 16 years.

A book by Mac Barnett that looks like a video game? What else could you want? You know from just looking at the cover that Jack Gets Zapped! is going to be fun! Fans of Mac Barnett’s Jack series will immediately be in for this adventure. But even kids who don’t know Mac or his character Jack will snatch this book up. It is easy to read with sentences like “Jack! Quick! Come in!” It is reminiscent of Dick and Jane style but closer in content to Mo Willems books. They are high-interest because they are funny and hold the attention of early readers, but they are also easy to read with short sentences and predictive text. The 1st and 2nd graders I asked to read this book absolutely saw themselves in Jack who wants to do nothing but play video games. The kids that I had read this book said things like: “I liked it because it’s about stuff I like to do in real life.” “I liked it because it talked about him going into a video game.” “It was very funny!” “I liked it when the lady stomped the boss’s head. Now she can save Jack!” When I asked what the kids didn’t like about the book no one could come up with anything. It is a fun, easy book, perfect for beginning readers and a great contender for the Geisel award.