Review: Squish #3: The Power of the Parasite

From Goodreads.com

From Goodreads:
School's out! Everyone's favorite amoeba is headed to summer camp! But instead of SUPER AWESOME FUN, Squish's summer is turning out to be SUPER AWESOME TERRIFYING! For one thing, Squish can't swim. And to make matters worse, his new camp friend is a Hydra (scientific fact: A hydra's tentacles can paralyze you!). Will Squish sink or will he swim this summer? (And what's up with Pod and black holes anyways??) Find out the answers to these questions and more in Squish's third super spectacular adventure—the Power of the Parasite! Summer reading has never been so slimey.

I love graphic novels.  They pack a lot of punch---they take a lot of inferring skills to understand, but they are so fun to read!  Kids don't realize they're boosting their comprehension skills! 

Jennifer and Matt Holm (the wonderful sister/brother duo behind the Babymouse graphic novels) have written and illustrated another series of graphic novels about Squish, an amoeba.  This is my first Squish graphic novel (3rd in the series), but like Babymouse, you don't have to read them in order.

Squish is a comic book loving, funny amoeba.  His mom signs him up for swim camp (its better than ballet camp, right?), where he meets Basil and quickly become friends.  However, paralleling what is happening in the comic book he is reading about Super Amoeba and the Parasite, Squish quickly learns that you need to stick up to bullies and do the right thing...(and also to never doubt the power of ballet).

The graphics are simple, using only a few colors (yellow, orange, green and black) during Squish's part of the novel, and black and white during Super Amoeba's part.  I liked that because you could tell whose part was what. 

I really enjoyed this graphic novel, and I'm sure my students will too.  You look at Babymouse and think, "Oh girl book.", but I have boys that love Babymouse.  Squish is the same way.  Don't limit this to just boys---girls will enjoy it too.


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