File under: adult ADHD. As I look at Relic Hamilton, Genie Hunter on my desk it mocks me. The book knows that it was read many months ago. The book knows that the praise I thought about it stood true and was higher than most upper-elementary and mglit releases. The books also knows that it’s one of the few releases that speaks to boys more than girls. The educator in me knew that I needed to speak from the mountain top to my upper-elementary school teacher friends, that this was something they needed to be aware of. Yet, with all of that wind in the book’s sail, it sat on my desk, silently judging me. It was doing this while all the time boys, aged eight through twelve, were tilting at the literary windmills looking for a book with action, yokai, and a twist.
Relic Hamilton: Genie Hunter, c’mon down, you’re the fabulous book that we meant to review in March 2026. After thumbing through Genie Hunter again, I can attest that it’s just as entertaining as the first time we read it. However, a non-diagnosed ADHD middle-age dad is not the target audience for the book.
Genie Hunter addresses what could be its largest weakness and immediate embraces it. The book hugs the cactus, eats the frog and takes the thing that people think of in a weak manner, and elevates it to action status. It’s the genie. They have potential for action, science-fiction, adventure and mysticism, but heretofore they’ve been relegated to Disney, early-elementary school land, and almost exclusively of interest to girls. I blame Disney. The animated Aladdin had Robin Williams, which allowed for some crossover, mainly due to the movie going parents. However, if Monty Python can make the rabbit a killer, then it is completely possible to make a genie cool.
The title of the book Relic Hamilton, Genie Hunter starts the curiosity quest off right by letting young audiences know genies will be hunted. This implies that some genies aren’t nice. Young boy readers need a great heel in order to latch onto a book. If the antagonist is some namby-pamby, feckless thing without any real teeth, the audiences would just as soon go to a fart-based book.
Genie Hunter got the memo and doesn’t waste any time in hooking young readers. Relic is a kid helping out his grandfather at the antique store in Chinatown in London. One day he’s polishing a lamp and out pops a genie. This isn’t a wish-granting musical genie. This is a soul-snatching, feeds-on-hope genie, and our young protagonist is laden with it. Relic soon realizes that his grandfather knows more than he’s saying . The two join forces with others, who have seen many more genies, fly around in a top secret plane and Relic finds himself hurtling through time, landing on a pirate ship.
The book is very fast paced, which is a must for those boys in elementary school who are probably reluctant to read in the first place. There are several illustrations throughout the book, which helps ease the reluctance of those boys. To make it even more of an odd duck, the chapters start off with a short poem. This is not a poetry book. The poem simply sets the stage for what will happen in the chapter. As the story evolves it serves to recap what happened in the previous chapter as well.
Add all of this and you’ve got a humdinger of a fun to read book that ages eight through twelve will absorb like my barren back yard does a rainstorm. Relic Hamilton, Genie Hunter is the first of a planned trio of books that set up the learning to love to read dominos. Wait, its fun, has monstrous genies, time-traveling adventure, illustrations, a little bit of poetry and I don’t have to read it under duress? Yes, Virgnia, there is hope in the mglit world. Relic Hamilton is a hoot. It’s fun to read for boys or girls, with either of them queuing up to get the hopeful second book when it comes out….which we’ll review in a more timely manner.
Relic Hamilton, Genie Hunter is by Joseph Coelho with illustrations by Hyun Song We and is available on Candlewick Press.
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