No Fear Here! Sam Wu Is NOT Afraid of Ghosts by Katie and Kevin Tsang

You are probably wondering why Ralph Philip Zinkerman the Third calls me Scaredy Cat Sam.

Listen carefully. I am only going to tell this story ONCE.

The Event that Must Never Be Spoken Of Again occurred on a field trip to the Space Museum where, emboldened by his Space Blasters shirt, Sam Wu climbs into the Astro Blaster mockup and sets off the blast-off simulation and is convinced that he meets up with the Space Ghost of his favorite TV show. Sirens screech, lights flash, and the Astro Blaster seems about to blow up. Suffice it to say, the worst thing that can happen on a field trip happens to Sam.

I looked down.

Rising above the laughter, comes Ralph's voice.

"Sam Wu peed his pants."

To overcome his reputation as Scaredy Cat Sam at school, he settles on becoming the owner of the scariest pet in the pet shop, a snake which he names Fang. Now what can Ralph Philip Zinkerman the Third say? Just wait till he sees Sam's deadly constrictor!

His best friends, Zoe and Bernard, are impressed. Immediately they wangle a visit to Sam's house to see the Super-Dangerous Predator, and while they are there, the power goes out, and when the lights come on and Sam takes his friends up to see his snake, his tank is open and--Fang is GONE! After an almost sleepless night wrapped in pickle juice-soaked aluminum foil to save him from being strangled by Fang, Sam is desperate. The next day he begs Zoe and Bernard to come back and help save him from the Super-Dangerous snake, which seems to be living--and screeching--inside his very walls! Has Fang joined forces with The Space Ghost? Is Sam Wu is doomed to be a scaredy cat after all?

Sam gets by with a little help from his friends, in Katie and Kevin Tsang's Sam Wu Is NOT Afraid of Ghosts! (Sterling Books, 2018). In an intriguing combination of early chapter book and graphic novel with Nathan Reed's wild and crazy illustrations, somewhat reminiscent of the Captain Underpants series, kids will agree that Sam Wu comes through, with his reputation as not-a-scaredy-pants intact--at least as far as space ghosts and snakes go. Sam is a sympathetic multicultural protagonist, enjoying the differences in his Chinese family's food, finding new friends, and making his way through the trials of elementary school bullies and his own fears. Readers will want to see how Sam fares with another fear in Sam Wu is NOT Afraid of Sharks!