June 17, 2025 by Greenwillow Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
In this graphic novel, the League of Littles is needed to help find a lost pet, but all of the best teams are on other missions! What to do? Call in Eli, Lexi, and Mo for their first mission. Gabi has "borrowed" her sister Gabi's hamster, Chester, a known escape artist for show and tell, but took the extra precaution of taping his cage shut. Still, he's escaped. The L.O.L. members are on it, sneaking into the first greade classroom to investigate. They find Chester, but he skedaddles down the hall and into the ducts in the library ceiling. The L.O.L. members have to go to class, but try to recapture him after school, sending Mo into the ducts. She realizes that Chester is working with the Band of Bigs just before she plunges into a waiting barrel of water in the library! Mo's brother, and Gabi's sister are in the B.O.B., which is at odds with the L.O.L. There is also the Middles and Onlys Guild, but while they can watch the altercation in their own guild lair, they don't want to intervene unless necessary. Eventually, the L.O.L. lures Chester out with a disco dance party in a box, and return him to Gabi. Will the two groups ever reach a detente, or will there be further adventures?
Strengths: I really enjoyed Faber's artwork. The colors were great, and the illustration style is a little more comic book like, with finer line work than a lot of middle grade graphic novels. This was a fast paced, rather charming story that drops readers right into the adventure without spending too much time explaining how all of the different groups were formed or why they have secret lairs. The evil hamster is adorable, and I liked that the kids had to make sure they got to class before solving the mystery. This is very different from Lyall's Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities.
Weaknesses: This is a bit young for my middle school students, even though the Band of Bigs are tweens. Also, lets not have water in libraries under any circumstances. Even evil hamsters should know better!
What I really think: This is a good choice for elementary readers who like Marvel or DC style adventures like Fridolfs and Nguyen's Study Hall of Justice (DC Comics: Secret Hero Society #1) or Venable and Yue's Katie the Catsitter.
Strengths: I really enjoyed Faber's artwork. The colors were great, and the illustration style is a little more comic book like, with finer line work than a lot of middle grade graphic novels. This was a fast paced, rather charming story that drops readers right into the adventure without spending too much time explaining how all of the different groups were formed or why they have secret lairs. The evil hamster is adorable, and I liked that the kids had to make sure they got to class before solving the mystery. This is very different from Lyall's Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities.
Weaknesses: This is a bit young for my middle school students, even though the Band of Bigs are tweens. Also, lets not have water in libraries under any circumstances. Even evil hamsters should know better!
What I really think: This is a good choice for elementary readers who like Marvel or DC style adventures like Fridolfs and Nguyen's Study Hall of Justice (DC Comics: Secret Hero Society #1) or Venable and Yue's Katie the Catsitter.
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