Member Reviews
I can say that I am not the intended target audience but I did have fun reading this graphic novel.
the story is interesting and easy to follow and it teaches an important lesson - no to bullies, yes to friendships, and lovely memories. it also touches on the topic of money and being a part of a poor family.
This was funny and lighthearted read with a quick message on the true meaning of wealth and friendship.
The characters were sweet and enjoyable and the artwork was cute.
“I already am rich. In other ways!”
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Blue and Herschel are tired of dealing with bullies. Together, they come up with the perfect plan to really show up their bullies, when they decide to investigate their middle school after dark for, you guessed it, treasure. 🔒
Legend says that there is hidden treasure underneath the floorboards of the school. But, the question is, have they been the only ones that have tried to find it? 👻
They soon find out that things are a little bit more “ghostly” then they may seem.
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Let’s make this clear, I am not the targeted audience for this book. I believe this book was made for pre-teens, specifically boys. I counted on both hands the amount of times “poo” was mentioned.
But, that’s OKAY! I thought the artwork was very cute, vibrant and fun. I also like the theme of finding riches in other things besides material. 💛
Overall, cute, just not the book for me.
Thank you so much NetGalley and Papercutz Publishing for sending over this eARC. 💚
**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a cute little middle grade graphic novel. I really enjoyed the storyline and the depiction of friendship. The adventrue part was really interesting. I liked the ghosts and how they weren't the villain in the way you thought they were. The art was cute.
Pretty cute and spooky with a nice little lesson. It was lacking a little bit of something, but I’m not quite sure what. I did enjoy it, though.
So much fun! This YA tale is perfectly spooky and wonderfully illustrated. Erman and Criswell are truly a dynamic duo.
A fun middle grade graphic novel about kids searching for treasure beneath the school. Just one problem, the treasure is cursed. It had funny and heartwarming parts to it and I like how bullies learned their lesson and I loved the ghost characters and the exploration into their backgrounds. The characters are pretty stereotypical which is normal for a book at this reading level, but the message is wholesome and I think kids will like it.
I received an advance digital copy of this graphic novel from NetGalley for review and got a kick out of it. Two misfit boys sneak into their school after hours in search of a mythical treasure. They encounter a whole cast of ghosts- previous doomed treasure hunters stuck in limbo. The boys team up with the school’s janitor and have to deal with three bullies who also enter the fray. The illustrations are solid with bold colors and readable text, which I found engaging. This would be fun for a middle grade reader who likes ghosts, treasure and adventure.
Thank you Papercutz and NetGalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review.
This might be a spooky graphic novel but I closed it with a smile!
There’s a new groundskeeper with ulterior motives at Amberline school. The first night she’s cleaning up, she learns she’s not alone..
Blue(jay) and Hersch(el) are 2 sixth graders and best friends. I absolutely loved no adored their relationship and even though they weren’t always the sharpest tools in the shed ;) they were really nice and always there for eachother. And Herschley being obsessed with his old school gaming device, brought back so many happy memories!
There are some bullies in this story too but their development throughout the story was nice. It’s those bullies who make Blue and Hersch believe there’s a cursed treasure hidden in their school. Blue and Hersch don’t waste any time and decide to try to find it that night! They get some unexpected help and some very surprising help too..
The message of being wealthy in other ways than having a lot of money and the way this ended was really nice and I recommend this graphic novel to anyone who likes adventurous, spooky and heartwarming stories with a little nerdiness sprinkled on top!
Great concept of a treasure hunt! Art is pretty great as well. While sometimes the plot moved really fast for me, I loved the characters. They were super interesting and complicated!
I loved that there was MC nonbinary rep in this middle grade graphic! I think early middle schoolers will definitely enjoy the ghostly mystery and treasure hunt aspect. I personally didn’t connect with this art style or most of the dialogue choices, and found the plot pacing abrupt and disconnected. I think it’s still a good recommendation for kids who are into adventure tales and supernatural stories.
This book was okay.
The art was good, the plotline was really intriguing at the start with so many different elements but I think at the end of it somewhere I didn't understand why a few things were happening.
On the whole it was a quick fun read, thank you netgalley for the ARC.
Heebie Jeebies is a graphic novel about Blue and Herschel, two kids exploring their middle school to find a cursed treasure. Along the way, they deal with ghosts.. and even worse bullies.
I really enjoyed the art style of this graphic novel. It was engaging and pulled me into the story. Unfortunately, I found the plot and dialogue to feel a bit bland/forced. I love the idea of hidden treasure and cursed school, but for me the excitement did not hold throughout the book.
If you are looking for some fun with haunted ghosts & great illustrations though, I recommend that you go ahead and give this a try!
Thanks to NetGalley, Matthew Erman, and Papercutz for the chance to review this advanced copy!
What I though to be a generic ghost story turns to a great adventure that kids will enjoy. Not into the artwork but the story, the built ups and characters that you'll love are in this comic.
This story was great from start to end. Focusing on two younger boys, considered the outcasts of their grade wanting to sneak into their school at night to find some hidden treasure. The story itself is targeted towards a younger audience. Most likely the same age as the characters. High elementary or lower middle. That being said, I still enjoyed the story a lot.
Because of the age demographic, writing a horror story can be very hard. You don't want it to be too scary or you'll traumatise the kids. The authors do a great job of filling the story with lots of jokes and combatting any of the scary factors of the story with the colour palate used. That being said, I loved the colours used for the story. It reminded me a lot of the Halloween Town movies. Very whimsical and kid friendly, while still holding onto enough of a spooky factor for the kids.
The story itself started off a bit slow. The first 10 pages didn't have much going on, but I contribute to that to building some suspense. The story really starts getting interesting once they sneak into the school, which makes sense. After all, what kid hasn't dreamed of sneaking into their school at night. From their the story is fast paced, always interesting, and action packed with the ghosts. Its nice to see the characters check in with each other too as a means of slowing down the pace to give readers a breather.
It was also very easy to follow. The main focus of the story was the picture element. The illustrator did an amazing job of showing the emotions and direction of the plot through the pictures rather then focusing heavily on the words. There wasn't too much dialogue to follow which helped the comic be a quick read.
The main focus of the story was appreciating what you have and realizing you don't need money to feel fulfilled in life. This is a great life lesson for kids and was portrayed nicely through Blue's back story and want of the treasure. Now this may just be me being stupid, but I didn't figure out what the moral of the story was until 70% of the way through the story. There were little hints to it in the beginning with Blue needing the money for his mom but that was it. It would have been nicer if it was more apparent earlier on. Especially for a younger audience.
As for the characters, I'm not the biggest fan of how they were portrayed. I did enjoy them and think they were funny but would have liked more personality for them. They did come off stereotypical most of the time with Blue bring from a poor immigrant family and Herschel being the dumb fat kid who plays video games all day. There are times when Herschel says the most intelligent things and when he does it comes off very out of character and like the author is just trying to get information across and doesn't know how else to do it.
Another character I want to talk about is Madison. I loved her character. She seemed very fleshed out and her ambitions were a great plot twist to the story. That being said, she was the only adult in the comic. Even if I like her character and it made sense for her to be there, in retrospect it is kind of strange that an adult is doing all this with a group of kids. Her disappearing at the end is unsatisfying but makes a lot of sense. She shouldn't be hanging out with kids, especially after the events of the story.
Overall, despite the smaller issues I had with the characters, the story overall was very interesting to read, and the pacing with the panel size and colouring helped it be an easy and great read for a younger audience.
Man this one did not work for me. It is cute but is for a very young audience. The art is good but the story felt so contrived and the dialogue was painful at times. I am probably in the wrong headspace so please don't pass on this because of this review, but keep your expectations set for more of an elementary fare.
This book has a fun concept - two bullied buddies break into their school to hunt rumored treasure and are face with a group of protective ghosts. Overall though, I want each fan. What works - great art, fun ghostly back stories, a good moral. What I didn't really dig - over the top crass humor (I'm no delicate flower but the fart jokes were excessive), weird times jumps that didn't add to the story, and unlikable main characters. I think boys age ten or so might find good funny but it was a miss for me.
I appreciated that this book does a good job of being spooky but not graphic. I like that the ghost designs are a bit creepy sometimes- even if they are helpful characters. I do think the writing is a bit rough in the first 10ish pages- the characters didn't come off like real middle school students. However, once the treasure hunt started, the story really picked up. I do like how the book had discussions of financial issues without it feeling really morose. The art is bright and engaging.
Wonderful collaboration from Matthew Erman and Shelby Criswell. This was fun visual story — colorful and enjoyable for a wide range of readers, and a welcome addition to classroom shelves.
Despite liking the overall message (greed bad, friendship etc. good), I found this book a little disappointing. The plot was somewhat messy and the characters seemed more like charicatures than actual people.
Overall not something I'd read again.