Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is an incredibly deep commentary on human instincts, written superbly by the great Bill Martin Jr. At the beginning of the story, we meet our protagonist, "A", who's goal is to beat all the other letters to the top of the coconut tree. What I enjoy the most about Bill Martin Jr's novel is how it doesn't waste any time. As soon as A is introduced, we're immediately shown his motivations and his end goal, without any dillydallying. He is a simple character with a simple mis

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is an incredibly deep commentary on human instincts, written superbly by the great Bill Martin Jr. At the beginning of the story, we meet our protagonist, "A", who's goal is to beat all the other letters to the top of the coconut tree. What I enjoy the most about Bill Martin Jr's novel is how it doesn't waste any time. As soon as A is introduced, we're immediately shown his motivations and his end goal, without any dillydallying. He is a simple character with a simple mission, and because of this, a backstory or other form of overly long character background check isn't necessary. Martin Jr is well aware of this, and introduces A accordingly. We meet other characters as the story goes along, such as B and C for example. They all have great personalities, but fall somewhat short to the incredible character achievement that is A. However, a lot of them have distinct character traits that make them interesting, such as Loose-Tooth T.



The book's main conflict occurs when all the lowercase letters of the alphabet, (who are geniusly portrayed as children) try to be the first to make it to the top of the iconic tree, but end up falling and injuring themselves, having to be helped by their parents. This is the message that a lot of reviewers are failing to see. The letters are just like us. As a species, humans are captivated with the idea of pushing farther and farther, but never stop to think if we should, whether it will harm us in the long run or not. We are lowercase letters, obsessed with climbing further and further up the coconut tree. And eventually, it will be too late. We'll fall. But unlike the lowercases, we won't have uppercase letters to come save us. It's up to us and us alone to decide whether or not we choose to climb the coconut tree.



Despite all this, at the end of the book we're shown A sitting firmly at the top of the tree after all the other letters had gone home. This gave me a lot of mixed feelings. Yes, it was a fitting end to A's character arc, as he completed his goal and went through the hero's journey. However, it also gave me a bit of sadness. It's slightly depressing that A is so obsessed with getting to the top of the tree, that he does so in the middle of the night, with no on around to see him. Some might say this is just dedication, and shows A's determination, (one of his defining character traits) but I find it somewhat disheartening. This is another genius hint at the book's deeper meaning by Bill Martin Jr.



Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a book about society. About human beings. About life. It saddens me that some might even think to give Bill Martin Jr's bestseller one star, because it means that they clearly didn't see the books deeper meaning. Or perhaps, they're too scared to look for it.