How To Spot A Sasquatch | Review

How To Spot A Sasquatch
Writer: J. Torres
Artist: Aurélie Grand
Owlkids Books; $16.95
Ages 7-10

Bigfoot Boy writer J. Torres returns to the subject of the world’s most famous cryptid with his new How To Spot a Sasquatch, a collaboration with artist Aurélie Grand in which a group of Junior Rangers have several close encounters with a group of woodland creatures. But they keep just missing Sass, the self-appointed leader of said creatures, a young, somewhat reckless Sasquatch whose adopted parents, a pair of bears, just don’t get her and her fascination with human beings.

Not that the young campers are even looking for her, of course; in fact, only one of them even believes in Bigfoot, and that’s Jay, the odd one out among his fellow campers, largely because he believes in Bigfoot. When he encounters a mysterious print on the ground, for example, he sees a Bigfoot footprint, while the others only see a strange depression in the ground.

How To Spot a Sasquatch is broken up into chapters, each telling a little adventure in which the curious Sass comes awfully close to the skeptical humans, without ever quite crossing their paths. In one, the campers’ snacks go mysteriously missing. In another, Sass and her friends–a rabbit, a squirrel and a chipmunk–must figure out a way to put out an unattended campfire. And so on. The episodic story culminates with Jay and Sass finally meeting and becoming friends, although Jay keeps her existence to himself, not wanting to ruin her life, even if sharing his proof of her would finally get his fellow campers to finally believe him.

How To Spot a Sasquatch reads like a cross between a collection of comics strips and a graphic novel and is drawn by Grand in a rather comic strip-like style, featuring flat, simple designs with a highly animated, cartoony look. As for the star, she looks a bit like a giant girl wearing a fur-suit, and she decorates herself with flowers, much to the chagrin of her adoptive father (“Is this a new thing with cubs these days? You look like you fell headfirst into a meadow.”)

Fun and funny, it’s a pretty perfect graphic novel for young readers…and not a bad one for older ones, either.

Filed under: Graphic Novels, Reviews