Chapter Book Review: The Story of Gumluck the Wizard Book One by Adam Rex

Posted on November 21, 2024 at 6:32 am by Gene Ambaum

The Story of Gumluck the Wizard Book One by Adam Rex. Chronicle Books, 2023. 9781797213231. 134pp.

I picked this up because I loved Rex’s The True Meaning of Smekday. I kept reading it because it has one of my favorite dedications ever (it involves raccoons) plus his drawings are top-notch. The story in this chapter book is, too.

Gumluck is super positive, but his attitude allows folks to take advantage of him and his abilities. People are rarely satisfied with the results of what he does for them, whether it’s the woman who needs a dress for the harvest dance, the man who wants huge muscles, or the overly entitled prince demanding love. Gumluck is heroic, though, and all he wants is to be recognized for that; he wants to be named Harvest Hero.
That seems super unlikely given how the contest works (it’s fixed) and the fact that he’s more the subject of ridicule and not admiration. (Gumluck’s friend, a raven named Helvetica, who seems to have a terrible attitude, narrates throughout, and tries (but repeatedly fails) to explain how things really are to Gumluck.)

Worth noting: When Helvetica has had enough of the townspeople’s attitudes, she poops on the heads of everyone in the market. That’s a friend! (The page is not very graphic.)

There are already two books in the series, with a third to be published in the spring of 2025.