Book Review: The Creeps: Book 1: Night of the Frankenfrogs by Chris Schweizer

The Creeps: Book 1: Night of the Frankenfrogs is a children's graphic novel by Chris Schweizer. It was scheduled for release on August 11 2015. In Pumpkins County, weird things happen every day, but nobody ever makes a fuss. Nobody, that is, except the Creeps: Carol, a big-city girl new to Pumpkins County, who finds kindred spirits in Mitchell (monster expert), Jarvis (military brat with logistics know-how), and Rosario (girly girl on the outside, muscle underneath). The Creeps are on the case to figure out the spooky mysteries and still get to class on time. Last week it was a pudding monster. This week, it’s killer frogs—reanimated from the team’s biology class dissection experiment. Who’s behind the Frankenfrog attacks? The Creeps will track down the answers!

Frankenfrogs is a fun and freaky graphic novel about misfits in the school that are the only ones that seem to acknowledge the strange things that happening their school, and the town. The group of friends is ready to take on the challenges that come with facing the less than typical school problems they have to face, but could do without the bullying and punishments they need to serve because of the solutions they find to deal with the odd problems they deal with. When the frogs intended for dissection end up reanimated and attacking the group of friends are on a mission to stop them, and discover who is behind the attack. The story is crazy and more than a little out there- which I liked. It is fun and has characters that I liked because of their strangeness. There is little consequence for the evil doer, and that all adds to the wackiness of the story. It is fast paced, full of witty dialogue, and has artwork that really brings the whole story to life.

The only thing that really bothered me might not really bother others. I felt like there was a book before this one, something I missed. The story starts with the creeps and the school dealing with the aftermath of the evil pudding monster- but there is no explanation of that encounter or whey the group is dubbed "the Creeps". I just shrugged it off and tried to move on, but it still rather irks me.

Frankenfrogs is a graphic novel that is creep and funny. It is full of wacky characters, action and humor that will appeal to many young readers that love monsters, fun, and graphic novels. I think my son would love the book.