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Title | Homerooms & Hall Passes
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Author | Tom O'Donnell
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Cover Art | Barry Blankenship
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Publisher | Balzer + Bray - 2019
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First Printing | Balzer + Bray - 2019
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Title | Homerooms and Hall Passes: Heroes Level Up
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Author | Tom O'Donnell
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Cover Art | Stephen Gilpin
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Publisher | Balzer + Bray - 2020
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First Printing | Balzer + Bray - 2020
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Category | Middle Grade
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Thromdurr, Devis, Vela, Sorrowshade, Albiorix
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Main Elements | Wizards, elves
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Website | ---
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 Homerooms and Hall Passes
In the mystical realm of Bríandalör, every day the brave and the bold delve into hidden temples or forgotten dungeons, battling vile monsters and evil wizards to loot their treasure hoards for sweet, sweet magic items. But in their free time, our heroes—Thromdurr the mighty barbarian, Devis the shifty thief, Vela the noble paladin, Sorrowshade the Gloom Elf assassin, and Albiorix the (good!) wizard—need to relax and unwind. That’s why they meet up once a week to play Homerooms & Hall a role-playing game where they assume the characters of average American eighth graders. But when the five young adventurers are magically transported into their H&H game by an ancient curse, they must band together to survive their toughest challenge middle school. Who knew that battling ogres would be easier than passing algebra or navigating the cafeteria social scene? They must use what they’ve learned from playing Homerooms & Hall Passes to figure out how to save their game world (which might actually be real...). Dungeons & Dragons meets Jumanji in this new, laugh-out-loud adventure series from the author of the beloved Hamstersaurus Rex series.
Homerooms and Hall Passes: Heroes Level Up
Dungeons & Dragons meets Jumanji in the second book in the laugh-out-loud adventure series Homerooms and Hall Passes!
Months after saving suburbia from destruction, our heroes are back to their old lives of dungeon delving and magical quests. All except the wizard Albiorix, who has given up adventuring and uses his time trying (unsuccessfully) to create his own board game.
When the party finds their old friend June Westray’s smartphone for sale in a Bríandalörian bazaar, however, they fear the Realm of Suburbia is under threat.
Thus, the five young adventurers must travel back into Homerooms & Hall Passes, a role-playing game where they assume the characters of average American kids. This time they’re at Level 9 and will face a whole new set of challenges: their freshman year of high school!
There are different cliques, different rules, and higher stakes. And if that wasn’t stressful enough, the heroes must track down an evil spellbook, defeat a sinister foe, and figure out how to get back home . . . .
I'd read a few variations on Dungeons & Dragons this year and this one seemed cute as it completely reversed the idea making our world the game. And just like in the 80's cartoon, the players get sucked into our world and have to try to survived high school for real. It's more challenging to than you think when failing a class will make you lose the game, and your Nerd character is a barbarian, more skilled at bashing things than he is at algebra.
I didn't think this could be pulled off without being too silly or ridiculous, but in fact I enjoyed it enormously. Of course it was silly, but in a fun way that made me laugh. It also had its serious moments, and it also shone a light on how ridiculous high school can been from the point of view of an outsider, but also that maybe its not such a terrible place either. After all the adventures would have names like The Semester of Tedium but I have a feeling that our adventurers were rarely bored. Hehe, and the soup...a warning to all who decide to play D&D to give themselves a good backstory.
I've never played D&D and this is the closest I've come to finding out how one plays it, so I enjoyed that too.
I wasn't convinced there was a second story to tell since the first one kind of wrapped up with everyone going back to their own world, but indeed there was another tale waiting! It took me a few chapters to get into it, worried it would be repetitive, but there was nothing to fear, I was soon drawn into the world of Suburbia once again and laughing along with the misadventures of these adventurers. There was a lot of character growth, and a very satisfying wrap up to this duology. I'll miss not having yet another story to read, but these two were just exactly right. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't entirely believable (like a barbarian entering a math championship after having only been exposed to even basic math for a few months), but it was still so much fun.
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