Junior Books ProjectCategory: Graphic NovelSource: Dr. KimmelThis hard cover graphic novel is a small-sized book which would be easy for small hands to hold. The front cover has a picture of Squish and his two friends Pod and Peggy. In the back is a black scary figure--Lynnwood, a bully at their school. The back has a panel with Squish and Lynnwood. Lynnwood looks as if he's taunting Squish and Squish seemed scared with sweat coming down his face. The caption reads: Squish! Saving the world...one cell at a time!This graphic novel is about an amoeba named Squish who faces a bully to try and defend his clueless friend, Peggy, from being eaten by Lynnwood, an amoeba bully. Squish isn't very brave and tries to find courage from a comic book about a Super Amoeba. The comic teaches Squish to have the courage to do the right thing, but Squish battles internally with his fear of bullies. In the end, Squish only daydreams about helping out his friend and the real hero is Peggy's slime mold, Fluffy. The colors used are only green, black, white, and gray. This graphic novel uses a mix of panels. Sometimes the pages have no panels and just a picture that takes up the whole page and other times there are up to five panels. Sometimes, the panels read left to right, other times the panels read from top to bottom and some panels are in a zig zag position. The author distinguishes Squish's story apart from the comic book story with his use of color. The comic book story is a plain gray color and Squish's story uses white, black, and green. The author narrates with blocks of text or with speech bubbles. She also uses green arrows to add commentary to the story and most of it is comedic. At the end of the book is a mini science lesson to teach kids how to make mold and an art lesson teaching kids how to draw Squish.This is my first graphic novel and I really enjoyed it. It is a very quick read. The story line wasn't bad and the author included many comedic moments with her use of arrows. And even though there wasn't many colors used, her use of a simple green, black, white, and gray still kept the illustrations lively. I think this was a good "first-time" graphic novel read because there wasn't any confusion on how to read the panels. It was pretty self-explanatory.This graphic novel is clearly a great read for a science lesson on bacteria, amoebas, plants, and photosynthesis. Other things this graphic novel touched on was standing up for what's right, being honest, and anti-bullying so a Civics lesson would work here also. This was a short, cute and well-illustrated graphic novel. It's the first in a new series by Jennifer Holm (Babymouse), and it's funny and interesting. Even though this is not a non-fiction book, you learn quite a bit about life science. Squish is your typical kid/amoeba, who gets in the usual variety of scrapes and adventures common to kids, like dodging school bullies, dealing with aggravating friends and trying to pass tests. And, in the back of the book you can learn how to grow your own mold!
What do You think about Super Amoeba (2011)?
Cute graphic novel. I love the science tie ins and moral dilemma that students can relate to.
—Swan99
not really my series, but i will be checking out BABYMOUSE!
—Nils
