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INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Uss, Christina

Erik vs. Everything

288 pp. | HarperCollins/Clarion | August, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-358-12671-3 $16.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-358-12662-1 $9.99
(2) 4-6 Nine-year-old Erik Sheepflattener is a descendant of Vikings. Family members sport rune tattoos and keep a weapons closet full of daggers, clubs, and armor. His older sister Brunhilde wields a mean battle-axe and says things like "by Valhalla's rafters, I am hungry"; her twin, Allyson, though more into pompoms and cheerleading, is equally strong and fierce. Many a meal in the Sheepflattener household consists of "fish hunks, fish chunks, fish lumps, and mutton." Erik, however, doesn't fit in. He's scared of everything: "School buses. Running squirrels. ­Crouching squirrels. Squirrels in trees. Squirrels under beds...Every kind of ball. Having things thrown at you. Having things yelled at you." He hides under furniture and sleeps under the bed. So when the Sheepflattener siblings are shipped off from Connecticut to Minnesota to assist Uncle Bjorn and Aunt Hilda with their new triplets, Erik dreads the trip. But Brunhilde channels her Viking spirit into ­helping Erik conquer his fears, especially his ­sciurophobia (fear of squirrels). Real progress comes when Erik joins a mountain biking team and succeeds in finishing a monster race, even if he does cross the finish line ­toting his bike. The long cycling scene will appeal to all who love well-told sports action. Once again, Uss (The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, rev. 7/18; The Colossus of Roads, rev. 7/20) delivers a story carried by well-developed characters, plenty of dialogue, and humor.
Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

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