Homerooms and Hall Passes: Heroes Level Up

Written by Tom O'Donnell

Narrated by James Fouhey

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 . . . .

“You can’t help falling in love with this hilarious upside-down take on Dungeons & Dragons. I read; I cheered; I laughed out loud.”—Gordon Korman on Homerooms and Hall Passes

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063025646

Tom O'Donnell

Tom O’Donnell is the author of the Hamstersaurus Rex series as well as Space Rocks and its sequel, Space Rocks 2: For the Love of Gelo! He has written for the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and the show TripTank on Comedy Central. His comic strips have been featured in the New York Press and the Village Voice. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. Read more at www.tomisokay.com.

Reviews for Homerooms and Hall Passes

[Mary Powell · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

DNF. Just not for me. Was a Goodreads Giveaway Win, and I tried. Will donate.

[bookbrig-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Funny and really well done, this has hints of Stranger Things about it. The characters are great, and the stakes feel believable. Also Stinky and all his soups were extremely entertaining. Great for middle school readers looking for an adventure that blends fantasy and reality.

[foggidawn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's an adventurer's life for Apprentice Mage Albiorix and his four friends (a Paladin, a Thief, a Barbarian, and a Shadow Elf). They earn their living through completing various quests, but once a week, they gather in the back room of a local inn for some light entertainment: a game of Homerooms and Hall Passes. In this game, they take on various roles (the Nerd, the Loner, the Class Clown) and complete various nonadventures at J. A. Dewar Middle School. All well and good, until certain peculiar circumstances result in the characters being pulled into their own game. Now, they face challenges that they had never imagined: class elections, using computers for assignments, and worst of all... algebra! How can they escape from this nightmare and return to their own realm?I found this book delightfully amusing. The characters were great, the pacing kept me reading at a brisk clip, and the premise was just such fun. Recommended for middle-school fantasy enthusiasts, and anyone who's ever rolled for initiative.