Revenge Not So Sweet: A Review of The Shameless Shenanigans of Mister Malo, Book 1

In this new chapter book series from Puerto Rican author Alidis Vicente, fourth grader Lance Garcia has a secret identity. He is Mister Malo, an avenger of bullies selling his services for fruit snacks and other sweets. When mean girl Isabella farts and casts the blame on quiet, sweet Madeline Wilson, leading all the boys who like Isabella to tease poor Madeline, she turns to Mister Malo. But the Mister Malo revenge plan goes terribly wrong, leading to a food fight and Isabella getting into a lot of trouble she didn’t necessarily deserve. Furthermore, the boys don’t stop making fart noises around Madeline. As a result, Lance begins to rethink his strategy. Can he make farting cool? A school project on healthy eating gives him and his two best friends the chance to find out.

In this flip book, with English text on one side and Spanish on the other, Vicente presents an appealing young hero and his quirky family. His mother is the world’s worst cook, one of the reason for his obsession with fruit snacks and his sneaking out with his father for fast food. Although he’s an only child, the large extended family that gets together regularly offers opportunities for Lance to try different means of conflict resolution, as when he disarms his bullying cousin with a caring remark. However—and realistically—a lesson learned isn’t always applied, and Mister Malo’s antics end up doing more harm than good. The humor is elementary-school bawdy, with lots of jokes related to bodily functions, and depictions of non-adult approved events such as the food fight, a battle between Lance’s father and a senior citizen played for laughs, and the schoolwide competition taking an unusual turn. Vicente portrays a culturally diverse middle class suburb in New Jersey in which cultural information takes the form of food, but it’s also true to a protagonist who is himself obsessed with food. (If only his mother were a better cook…) In all, this book, from Latinx publisher Arte Público/Piñata Books has an appealing protagonist and kid-friendly scenes, with the bonus of a Spanish translation.

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