Rex Zero and the End of the World

by Tim Wynne-Jones

Book Overview

Why does everyone seem so scared? That's what the new boy in town, Rex Norton-Norton, aka Rex Zero, wonders as he rides his bike through Ottawa's streets. Is it spies? Kidnappers? Or is it because of the shadowy creature some say is stalking Adams Park? One thing is certain in this summer of 1962 as the Cold War heats up: nothing is quite what it seems. What's a boy to do? If his name is Rex Zero and he has a bike he calls "Diablo," five wild and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374334676
• ISBN13: 9780374334673
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Historical fiction, Cold-War Era

It's the summer of 1962, and a panther has escaped from the Granby Zoo--wherever that is. At first Rex Zero, newly moved from Vancouver to Ottawa, doesn't understand why his new town has no kids his own age. Well, he sees a few, but never for long: they always appear to be fleeing in terror. His sister Annie Oakley says they're running away from mutants caused by atomic radiation. An old man at the park claims the world is ending and even knows the date: October 23. Having four sisters and a brother called "the Sausage" isn't the same as having friends. Rex spends the summer days riding his trusty bike Diablo or working on his paint-by-number kits. Carefully he relabels each little pot of paint. "The colors of his face are supposed to be 37 and 39, which means that in my version they are 6 and 4: a kind of sickly yellow and an apple green. He doesn't look as if he likes sailing all that much. Or maybe he's thinking about the sandwiches they packed for their picnic." Rex's unique artwork becomes a metaphor for his new life: a world turned inside out. Before long Rex meets other sixth graders who aren't running, and learns that they believe an escaped panther is lurking in the park. An aging World War I veteran suffering the aftereffects of mustard gas and a sympathetic beatnik poet contribute clues that help Rex unravel a series of unsettling events. When Rex recruits his new classmates in a plot to trap the panther, he gets more than he bargained for. Plentiful period references, from Sea Hunt to Sputnik, are arguably more appealing to boomers than to preteens; how many ten-year-olds will appreciate a quip about Khrushchev's shoe? The atmosphere is authentic, however, giving a strong sense of what it was like to grow up during the duck-and-cover Cold War. The attitudes and emotions portrayed offer surprising parallels to today's experience of growing up with the possibility of nuclear war. Despite the sober subtext, Rex's first-person narrative is rich with goofy humor. "We've smashed the joke atom, and now even the simplest of words is dangerously funny." History, mystery, humor and suspense work well together in a savory mix that can't be classified. Rex Zero and the End of the World is a serious story that successfully avoids taking itself too seriously.

Rex Zero and the End of the World

Wynne-Jones wonderfully captures the mind and speech of middle graders. He also does a great job in this book bringing to life a historical time - the cold war sixties. With humor, he portrays how silly many adults reacted to the threat of nuclear war and how their reactions effected their children. Wynne-Jones makes his story relevant with the strong thread of making friends in new places.

A good read depicting the Cold War era.

This autobiographical slice-of-life story takes place in Ottawa, Canada. Rex Norton-Norton is the new boy in town, facing the usual obstacles of trying to find buddies his age, and coming to terms with nuances in culture--French is spoken here as well as English, and Rex's British Colombian accent could use some tweaking. The author does a fine job of depicting the uncertainties between kids when they're new to each other and vying for acceptance. Rex's new friends all have nicknames, and they proclaim 'Norton-minus-Norton-equals-zero', hence Rex gets his nickname. All is not well in 1962--a strange old man in the park carries a placard claiming the world will end on October 23; a fearsome animal lurks in the park which the friends believe to be a panther escaped from a zoo; Rex's dog goes missing (did the panther eat it?); America and Russia are at the height of the Cold War; bomb shelters are being built and espionage abounds--even nuns are suspected of being Communists. This is an ideal book for kids to become immersed in the feeling of what life was like for their parents who grew up with the subterfuge of fear in this era. However, there's too much trivia included which may drop the story like a dud for today's kids: Rex's mom listens to Harry Belafonte on her records, Rex's hobby is paint-by-number, TV shows and actors names are unfamiliar, and the basement is full of old Punch magazines. Otherwise it's worthwhile for the portrayal of 'typical family life' against which readers can judge their own 'normal' families.

Cue the R.E.M. song

You ever read an author, love their work, and then wake up at 2 a.m. with the sneaky suspicion that maybe all their books are good and that you've simply been missing out all these years? That's me, that is. I'm that. I've just read me a Tim Wynne-Jones book, thought it was top notch work, and then I started telling this to people. "Oh," they would say with sly little smiles plastered all over their faces. "And have you ever read anything by Tim before?" "Well, no," I'd confess. My compatriots would then nod sagely and the conversation would turn elsewhere, leaving me with the vague feeling that maybe I couldn't judge "Red Zero and the End of the World" unless I'd somehow read its author's entire children's literary oeuvre. Then I'd remember that a good reviewer reviews the book in front of them and not how that book stands up in the face of the writer's previous titles. So if you're already a Tim Wynne-Jones fan, I have good and bad news for you. The good is that I loved this book and I think it's great. The bad is that I don't know if it's any greater than anything else he's ever done. I guess you'll just have to pick yourself up a copy of this puppy and determine the rest for yourself. In 1962 the end of the world is near. At least that's what the crazy guy with the sign walking around the streets of Ottawa would have you believe. For Rex Norton-Norton (Rex Zero, for short), the world might well be ending for all he knows. He's just moved to Ottawa from Vancouver (and, before that, from Britain) and since it's the summer you would think that there would be some kids about to play with. There are kids, sure, but whenever Rex sees them they're usually moving as fast as they can away from him. It's very mysterious. Soon the boy befriends some of the locals and the truth comes out. The kids of the town are terrified because there's a gigantic panther on the loose. It's been sighted, but no adult is willing to believe this improbable possibility, which means that it's up to the kids to capture the beast and save themselves. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War in a time of uncertainty and paranoia, author Tim Wynne-Jones constructs an elegant metaphor for a time when people fight against a misunderstood threat with potentially disasterous results. We, as Americans, don't read a lot of children's books where the hero is a Brit who has moved to Canada. They're all English speaking countries, but somehow such books are almost exotic to us. Even in the depths of their suburbia, they're exotic. This, to my mind, is what sets Mr. Wynne-Jones apart as an author. He fills his book with distinctive details that round out the text and, at the same time, keep the story amusing to child readers. For example, I liked it when Rex sat watching television with his parents, slowly coming to the realization that they were so wrapped up in the program about the Cold War that they've forgotten he's even there. Rex eventually feels so

funny and moving

I love to be carried into a story on a magic carpet of laughter, and that's what Tim Wynne-Jones does for us here. Rex Zero wins my heart immediately by assigning random numbers to his paint-by-number paint pots and then watching with interest to see how the pictures turn out. So believable and original. The Cold War history that permeates the book is of special interest because the point of view is Canadian--as an American reader, I kept being startled to see how that made the terrain just a little unfamiliar, even when it seemed, at first, to be something I knew. Don't miss this book--you'll love the family, from brave big sister, Annie Oakley, to Flora Bella and the Sausage--but most especially, the smart, heroic Rex Zero himself.