January 1, 2021
Gr 7 Up-Seventeen-year-old Louie O'Connor loves her hometown, the once thriving, now dying tourist destination of Southborough, CA. Before Louie was born, a Sasquatch sighting attracted visitors, but enthusiasm has waned, and techie Leef Smith swoops in, eager to take advantage of the cheap land to build his start-up headquarters. Louie fears for her community, especially her parents' restaurant, Squatch Burger, where she works, so she and her best friend, Felix, team up to introduce a new creature that's sure to draw attention; along the way, she learns important lessons as she feuds and then makes up with Felix and realizes that her Squatch Burger job doesn't define her. Louie is white, Felix is Latinx, and there are numerous BIPOC secondary characters; the story also offers queer representation via multiple same-sex couples, including Louie's fathers. Time lapses are generally conveyed through text boxes, but some transitions are unlabeled and rushed, and pacing can be uneven. Still, the distractions don't detract from the narrative, and clever jokes and cultural references from the past two decades are sprinkled throughout. Basic color block backgrounds focus on the highly expressive and comedic character reactions, giving the tale a playful feel as it leads to the reveal of the titular character. VERDICT Readers will appreciate this campy adventure that has touches of "Scott Pilgrim" and "Lumberjanes" and ends on a valuable message about maintaining boundaries between work and identity.-Alea Perez, Elmhurst P.L., IL
Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 15, 2021
A scrappy teenager dedicates her summer to finding an elusive sasquatch. The tiny town of Southborough, California, became a hot spot for paranormal-seeking tourists after Gregory Samuel O'Connor's American Idol audition tape was video-bombed by a sasquatch. Eighteen years later, the tourism boom has nose-dived due to dwindling sightings of the sasquatch and internet-driven skepticism. Seventeen-year-old Louie O'Connor, daughter of the man who spotted the local cryptid, worries her dads will lose their restaurant. Like other Southborough businesses, Squatch Burger is threatened by a rich tech entrepreneur who wants to buy up the town for selfish purposes. Louie and her best friend, Felix, decide to turn things around by catching the sasquatch and returning Southborough to the map. But when a paranormal investigator famous for debunking cryptid stories shows up, everything changes. Can Louie find her passion and save the day? Reminiscent of a campy '80s film, the eye-catching, full-color artwork highlights kooky schemes and extremely expressive characters. While the visual design is stunning, weak character development muddles a thematically overburdened story. The impetus for many plot points and humorous gags turns out to be Louie's air of entitlement and general brattiness. An unbelievable change of heart leads to a tidy conclusion. Louie and her dads read as White; Felix is cued as Latinx, and residents of the town are ethnically diverse. A snarky romp--just don't think too hard about the holey plot. (Graphic fiction. 12-18)
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March 15, 2021
Grades 8-11 Louie has a deep passion for her struggling small town, Southborough, which was made famous years ago by a sasquatch sighting. It's been a tourist destination for many years, and the local economy has depended almost exclusively on tourist income, but business has slowed in recent years. An avaricious tech executive, Leef Smith, smells a deal and is aggressively buying up properties for its new headquarters, Start-up.com, and in an effort to save her dads' restaurant, Squatch Burger, Louie comes up with several schemes--some legitimate and others . . . less so--to make money, eventually making it her mission to save the entire town from being gobbled up and leveled by Leef. Though several montages make the plot line occasionally feel disjointed, this fun story has something for everyone, including thinly veiled '90s pop-culture references, matter-of-fact LGBTQ+ representation, and small town heart, and high-spirited, passionate Louie, who's angry about the opportunistic take-over of her town, is a lively protagonist. Hand to fans of Lumberjanes or The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
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