The premise begins simply enough; Nelson hates vegetables, despite the fact that everyone else in his family absolutely loves eating them, his dad loves cooking them and his grandparents love growing them! Even Nelson's best friend, Olive, loves vegetables, leading to a long-standing lunch-swapping ritual.
The story initially follows Nelson's frantic attempts to avoid vegetables, but the action ramps up dramatically when Nelson invents a story about a teacher-eating race of purple, slimy aliens, and, shockingly it turns out to be true!
Suddenly, Nelson is at the centre of a battle to save his teacher, his school and himself, and it seems that Grandma's vegetables may have something mysterious about them, when Nelson develops superpowers after eating them.
Levins' style of writing is fast-paced and tends to humorous over-exaggeration, which resulted in a joyous ride. Illustrator, Katie Kear, uses splashes of pumpkin-hued orange within black and white sketches to highlight the significance of this vegetable and to bring Nelson, Olive and the aliens to life.
This series will be a winner for children who love an elaborate action adventure, especially if they aren't too keen on their vegetables.
Title: Nelson 1: Pumpkins and Aliens
Author: Andrew Levins
Illustrator: Katie Kear
Publisher: Puffin, $12.99
Publication Date: 31 March 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760893347
For ages: 6+
Type: Junior Fiction
