Move over Peter! (Miles Morales Spider-Man)

Reynolds, J. (2017) Miles Morales Spider-Man.  New York, NY: Marvel Press

Spoilers Ahead! 

 

Miles is grounded. His dad, for punishment, making him do things like pick up all the trash on the street and in general making sure he’s not having a good time.  He’s in trouble for being suspended.  Miles is a junior at Brooklyn Visions Academy, where he spends most of his week.  He was suspended for having to pee.  Well, really he was suspended for leaving Mr. Chamberlain’s history class without permission.  He also didn’t have to pee.  His spider-sense was going crazy, so he left to go save whoever was in trouble.  Unfortunately, he didn’t find any trouble.  Well until he suspended any way. 

His family is especially hard on him when it comes to this sort of thing because of his uncle Aaron.  His Dad’s brother had got into a lot of shady activities, which eventually got him killed.  This is an especially sore spot for Miles’ because he was there when his uncle died.  In fact, his uncle Aaron had been trying to kill Miles when he accidently killed himself.  Not that his parents know that.  Anyway it’s very hard for Miles to hear about his uncle.

When Miles gets back to school, the buzz in his brain is still going during Mr. Chamberlains class.  He tries to ignore it, but it’s starting to make him sick.  Not only that, Mr. Chamberlain’s rhetoric is beginning to get really offensive.  They’re supposed to be covering the Civil War, but most of what Mr. Chamberlain has to say involves how slavery was a good thing.  It all results in Miles almost being sick on Alicia, and smashing his desk. 

In his English Class they’re studying Sijos, a Korean form of poem. Alicia is a gifted poet and Miles friend, Ganke, thinks to think he is too.  Miles doesn’t think his poems are all that great.  He does write one about his feeling for Alicia though.  There is going to be an open mic night for poetry in which Miles could earn some extra credit.  Too bad he has to work that night.  Miles works at the campus store, a store in which no one ever visits.  He decides he has to go to the open mic night, not only to get the extra credit but to tell Alicia how he feels.  He sneaks out, leaving the store open, to the event.  Alicia misunderstands why he wrote a poem and announces that he’s going to be on stage, but he disappears.  He goes back to the shop, waits for it be closing time, and leaves.

The next day he’s called into the dean’s office, and his parents show up as well.  The shop’s entire stock of canned sausage, which nobody likes, has gone missing.  Miles is being accused of stealing it.  He’s almost expelled, but instead gets off with losing his work-study job and scholarship.  Now he has to worry about how his parents are going to pay for his schooling.  It gets worse in Chamberlain’s class. Chamberlain is comparing slaves to dogs on leashes and forces Miles to kneel on the floor to use his broken desk.  Miles, not wanting to cause his parents any more trouble complies.

The day of the big Halloween party, his dad has some friends over to play cards.  Funny thing is, they all had school faculty named Chamberlain that used to give them problems.  That is until they all dropped out of school.  Something is up.  During the party, Miles finally delivers the poem to Alicia.  He disappears again though, this time following Mr. Chamberlain out of the party. Camouflaged, he follows Chamberlain through a secret tunnel in the school that comes out at a large white house.  Miles recognizes the house, it’s been appearing in his nightmares.  In the house, a large gathering of men has assembled around another ancient looking man.  He old man addresses them all as Chamberlains, and he is apparently called Warden.  Miles’s Chamberlain reports how he framed Miles for theft, and is working on breaking him.  Each other Chamberlain has a similar story. 

The next day Miles returns to the house, this time as Spider-Man.  Even though he’s camouflaged, the Warden can see him and a fight results.  The old man is surprisingly quick and strong, and when Miles finally gets in a hit blue blood flows from the man.  The Warden throws a cat o’ nine tails whip at him that turns into a giant cat with nine hard and sharp tails.  Miles defeats the cat, which reverts back to whip form.  He throws the whip back at the warden, the giant cat spearing the old man with a tail.

When Miles returns to his dorm, Ganke gives him a folded paper, delivered earlier by Alicia.  It’s a poem that seems to return his sentiments.  A nightmare-less sleep later, its Monday.  In History class, Chamberlain once again wants Miles to kneel on the floor.  This time, Miles refuses, and the class backs him.  They protest his treatment and walk out.

I’ve read Spider-Man novels before, and this is one of the best.  I find Miles Morales a very interesting version of Spider-Man.  The differences in his powers, his situation, and background are very intriguing.  The Spider-Man parts though weren’t what were really entertaining about this book.  This book was more about Miles Morales, his life, and his troubles.  It was the story of a high school junior in a tough situation, trying to figure out how to get out alive- Sometimes literally.  Written by Jason Reynolds, you can expect there to be some poetry and you’d be right.  The poetry in his English class and out of it really helps to accentuate the mood of the story.   Many a Spider-Man fan would like this book, but more than that, anyone who enjoys YA fiction.

I read this book because it is a New York Times Best Seller.