For young readers who find picking up a book a chore, this graphic novel might be a fun way to get into a story.  The characters are vibrant and colorful.  Going to summer camp and being thrown into a group of other kids can be a little daunting but this group of campers is inviting and three dimensional.  These characters are like the kids you’d hope your kids could meet at school.  They still have their flamboyant and snarky moments like most people, but they learn early on that teamwork and using the specific skill sets of each person on the team is important.  The humor throughout the book is a bit dry, but it had me laughing.  

Because the pages flow quickly and the story line moves along at a good clip, this could also be a good way to sneak in chapter books for readers who might be resistant to longer books.  Even though it’s a graphic novel, there’s still a great story line and they speak in full sentences.  The pages are not overwhelming and the amount of words are broken into bite sized chunks along with eye-catching artwork that depicts each part of the story visually as a distractor from reading.

This book is a collaboration of two authors.  Francesco Sedita has written at least six other books and after a little research, it looks like this might be Prescott Seraydarian’s first book.  Unfortunately, this book ends in the worst way: as a cliff hanger.  Hopefully the authors are already working on book two because I’m really looking forward to hearing how the story ends.  

Review of an Advance Reading Copy

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Viking Books for Young Readers

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  None

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

Fire, a character disappears mysteriously.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None