Review by Horn Book Review
The high-spirited brothers are up to more high jinks in this entertaining sequel to Link + Hud: Heroes by a Hair (rev. 5/23). In summer, the community rec center, complete with too many pickleball courts and both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, is the place to be. After a sunscreen fight gone wrong results in the outdoor pool's closure, the boys take their copious imaginations inside. They're spotted by a swim coach -- first as human cannonballs, then soaked in their Sunday best (i.e., their version of "wetsuits") -- whose no-nonsense approach seems to be no match for their antics. But after many imaginative and humorous digressions around pirate ships, shark behavior, family pickleball, and more; and with wise words from their "occasional babysitter and former archnemesis" Ms. Joyce ("Lord knows y'all can be a handful, but you good boys. Y'all just gotta show this coach...that y'all can take all that wild energy you got and put it to some good"), the brothers become unlikely joiners. Happily for readers, though, the siblings' stint as team players does not dampen their exuberantly imaginative and individualistic spirits. Dynamic and varied black-and-white illustrations appear throughout, some alongside the lively text, others as cartoon panels, and occasionally overtaking the pages: SPLASHH. Elissa GershowitzJuly/August 2025 p.103 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The active imaginations of two African American brothers get them into a boatload of fun (and trouble) in this second series entry. Lincoln and Hudson Dupré have spent their summer playing in the community center's outdoor pool. After a rowdy chicken fight with their friends Tyler and Samarth, they terrorize each other and fellow swimmers with sunscreen. When the pool has to close for cleaning, Link, Hud, and pals cannonball their way into the indoor pool and the seniors' aqua-aerobics class. Their antics draw the attention of Coach Strickler, who's in charge of the Sharks competitive swim team. To Link, their regimented drills look like "some kind of punishment," but he also wonders if he has what it takes to swim as fast as they do. The boys end up at the beach with their parents, where their dad gives them a booklet entitled "Gumbo's Field Guide to Fishing the Gulf," which they enjoy browsing. Humorous excerpts from the guide are interspersed (after the foursome experience a terrible training session with the Sharks and Coach Strickler sends them packing, readers encounter this tip: "Don't swim with sharks when there's blood in the water. Just trust old Gumbo on this one. You'll live to swim another day"). The pitch-perfect humor and likable characters will pull readers in. Passages of prose alternate with lively comic-book sequences, showing the boys' fully fleshed-out dreamscapes and their reality. An entertaining look at siblings' interior lives and wild adventures.(Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
