Oliver Fibbs and the Attack of the Alien Brain

Playful typography, comic-strip sequences, and off-the-cuff storytelling combine entertainingly in this first book in the Oliver Fibbs series, originally published in the U.K. in 2013. Oliver wishes he were “brilliant” like his family, but he feels mediocre in every way. After he translates his love of comics and their hyperbolic storylines into a habit of telling “Big Fat Fibs,” life gets a lot more interesting. It’s madcap silliness from start to finish, and readers will easily recognize that Oliver’s powers of imagination are plenty “brilliant” by book’s end. Simultaneously available: Oliver Fibbs and the Giant Boy-Munching Bugs. Ages 7–10. (Apr.)