Original title: Paavali Pattinen – Vihoviimeinen koulupäivä
Author: Hannele Lampela
Illustrator: Pasi Pitkänen
Published: 2024
Publisher: Otava
Genre: Middle Grade (8-12 Years)
Pages: 128
Part of a series: Benjamin Bateman series
Reading material:
English synopsis, English sample book 1, Finnish edition
What if your superhero costume looked like a butterfly and your only superpowers would be having a good heart and a lively imagination? Welcome to the embarrassing life of Benjamin Bateman!
✓ First joint series for award-winning and bestselling writer-illustrator super team Hannele Lampela and Pasi Pitkänen!
✓ Film in development!
✓ Book #1 was nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award 2023
How will the super embarrassed superhero fare when the school turns into a rampage scene for his arch-nemesis? Paavali thinks that the math lessons are boring, and the exercises that teacher Sausola hangs on the board don’t make any sense to him. And it's super embarrassing that he gets the feisty and attention-drawing Supermuija as his tutor. Could it be because of something other than Paavali's terrible math skills? And why is the math problem 2+2+2 written on the school wall? What on earth is really going on?
Every kid wants to be a superhero. Benjamin Bateman finds out that he is a superhero from Martinlaakso, but the superpowers are missing every now and then. Is it possible there’s been a mistake after all? A very everyday story gets wings when Benjamin understands that he truly is of a superhero family. The narration is breathtaking, but not tiring. The plot really hooks one in, and it is hard to set the book down. The different time periods create ellipsis in the story, and the vivacity of it is awe-inspiring. As a superhero, Benjamin is humane and human-sized, which makes the story very relatable.
Arvid Lydecken Award jury, about Book 1