Joel McKerrow (text) and Wayne Bryant (illustrator), The Dreaded Mr Snipe (Urban Legend Hunters #1), Larrikin House, April 2024, 195 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922804716
Urban Legend Hunters, Joel McKerrow’s first graphic novel with Larrikin House, is a top pick for upper primary school students.
The story centres around a trio of main characters: Jeremy, the insistent storyteller; Samantha, the sceptic; and Boris, the hesitant accomplice. Jeremy has decided he must tell all about urban legends and the dark and spooky fireside at school camp is just the right setting to give his story the gravitas it needs. Sam is determined to question the accuracy of his story, wanting to know the source, she’d make a great librarian. But it’s the mysterious school librarian, Ms Steele, that readers should be suspicious of.
Urban Legend Hunters is what I label as a composite text. There are sections of traditional graphic novel panels and other sections with illustrated text, think Tom Gates. This variety is well-suited for readers growing up with a TikTok-level attention span, or those who balk at books that have pages of uninterrupted text. Wayne Bryant’s illustration-style allows for the characters to display a lot of emotion and energy, and I really like it.
The character development is well suited to this age. While there is a little bit of ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’ the reader who the characters are, this is not unusual for books with a similar audience. Joel’s background in poetry comes through and the longer passages of text have a lyrical cadence that helps generate tension and emotion. But more than that it makes it easier to read, there is a flow about this book that I really enjoyed.
For school librarians, Urban Legend Hunters would sit well alongside Matt Stanton’s The Odds and Funny Kid series. It’s a great option for readers who have graduated from other graphic novel series like Real Pigeons, The Bad Guys or Secret Agent Mole.
I really hope this becomes a series. The characters have enough depth to carry out many more adventures and give kids many more laughs.
Reviewed by Cherie Bell
