The Creeps: Night of the Frankenfrogs

The Creeps: Night of the Frankenfrogs
Chris Schweizer
Abrams, 2015  122 pgs.
Grades 3-6
Graphic Novel
The Creeps Series #1

Meet the Creeps, a group of four intelligent misfits who attempt to keep the world save from malcontents, yet are often misunderstood and underappreciated. Our story opens with the Creeps working off yet another punishment for destroying school property while saving the school from a pudding monster. When sent to retrieve the frogs used in Biology for dissection, the gang discovers that the formally dead frogs are now very much alive and turned into attacking Frankenfrogs. The Creeps swing into action to defeat the evil beasts, even eliciting the help of eccentric former student/science nerd who works in a secret lair beneath the school. After many exciting, and gross, encounters with sewage and danger the Creeps track down the culprit who is gathering an army of Frankenfrogs. Is it the eccentric basement science nerd? Or maybe the new kid who seems slouchy and cool, but is revealed to be another science nerd? Or could it be someone the Creeps never suspected? Read the book to find out!

Schweizer writes and draws a new series of books sure to appeal to young people. The Creeps are lovable techno-misfits. Brainy kids will cheer for them and enjoy seeing nerds as heroes. Non-brainy kids will also enjoy this series for the action and gross-out humor. Schweizer has penned a winner that will both appeal to readers, as well as adults. Adults will appreciate the science element to the books, which demonstrates how experimentation can be fun and using your brain can help you figure out life's mysteries. Another factor to commend is that Schweizer offers the reader a diverse cast, which has been sorely lacking in graphic novels and is being demanded for by the book industry, the library world, and readers alike. One minor quibble: I had a hard time telling two of the characters apart and it took me a while to differentiate between them, leading to some confusion. There are a lot of characters within the short volume. As the series continues the reader will get to know everyone and this will be less of an issue. Pictures of the four Creeps on the back of the book with their names and special skill helped me keep at least these four characters straight and I referred to this key often in my reading. Is this the stuff of Shakespeare? Absolutely not. Will this be a hit with kids? Absolutely! Volume 2: The Trolls will Feast! is due out March, 2016.