by J. Torres and Faith Erin Hicks
100 pages
Late Elementary+
Rufus is super bored. His parents have left him at his grandma's place, next to the woods. All she wants to do is drink prune juice, watch her soaps, and doze of in her chair. Rufus waits until granny is asleep, and bolts out the back door, into the woods.
As he is leaving, he sees a neighbor girl wandering out there, too. When he finally finds her, he has to admit he's lost. While she takes him back, she is definitely NOT impressed with him. He tries again, only to end up wandering deeper and deeper in the woods. Looking for garbage to pick up (to impress the girl), he finds a strange, carved piece of wood. On one side is carved some letters, which, when read out loud, turn Rufus into BIGFOOT!
Rufus has to find his way out of the forest, turn back into a human, and watch out for some strange, wolf-y shadows as well. Can he do it?
So, this was a pretty fun, short graphic novel. Rufus is a pretty typical ten year old boy, at least until he turns into Bigfoot! The artwork reminded me a little of Brain Camp, but is a different artist. Artwork is colorful, but has lots of black. Not to the point where it is gloomy, but to help the reader get the idea of a dark forest.
The interplay between Rufus and the girl (Penny) is funny, especially since Rufus has a crush on Penny's older sister! It's also interesting to see the personality of the squirrel.... Overall, though, the characters a fairly flat and static.
This book was okay, but not great. It's probably something mid- to late elementary school boys would love, though. Rufus is funny, has some crazy things happen to him, and finds some new friends. I'll recommend it, but maybe not as heavily as some others. Quick, fun read, even if it is fairly simple. Has some potential for further books- it's tagged as #1, so more should be coming!
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