A review by wrentheblurry
Level Up by Thien Pham, Gene Luen Yang

4.0

So far I have yet to read a book by Gene Luen Yang that I don't like. I was drawn to this one not only because he is the author, but the old-school Gameboy cover and video game premise intrigued me. I read this as a bedtime story to my sons (Warren, 12 and Trev, 10) over several nights. We all had some good laugh-out-loud moments, though I was the only one that shed any tears. Trev says he would give it a 3: "I wasn't really into the whole storyline. I liked that it had humor and it was written well."

The story centers around a young man (Dennis) who is trying to find his place in the world. When a group of odd angels show up and announce that his destiny is to enter medical school and specialize in gastroenterology, that's just what he does. Yet Dennis has some father issues to sort through, and just when everything feels like it's going great (he's got friends, he's got a crush, he's rockin' school), he has to make some decisions about his life, and his future.

Better for teens (and close to teens) than tweens, great for late high-schoolers and kids in college, and just fine for adults!