Li'l Rip Haywire Adventures: Escape from Camp Cooties

This was a super fun graphic novel. Rip Haywire is a fantastic character and his adventures are entertaining. I enjoyed seeing the child version of Indiana Jones have to deal with spending the summer at a girls camp. I thought the way the book was written was rather clever. As Rip continues to find his way at summer camp, he remembers adventures that taught him something applicable- so the story continues to be exciting and should keep young readers hooked (especially since some boys might not want to read about a boy stuck at a girls camp). Honestly, I know that this looks like a 'boy book' but I've never really understood the need to make such distinctions. I think anyone could find this to be an enjoyable read. I would highly recommend it.

Here’s a tale about the son of a soldier of fortune who does all sorts of dangerous missions with his dad and his talking dog. Lots of flashbacks to his adventures, with riddles, cryptograms, labyrinths, and other games for you to help him with as he tries to survive being stuck in a summer camp with nothing but girls.
There’s a lot of subtle humor in here, don’t know if the kids in this age group would pick them all up, but it makes it more fun for the adults. He’s a cross between James Bond and Lara Croft, and sometimes the flashbacks go so over the top it’s truly hilarious. No doubt the most important lesson he learned was about teamwork, even with (shudder) girls!
After the story there’s some historical tidbits about people and places mentioned.

well-written adventure story!

A very strong four stars for this right, rollicking adventure for the under-twelves. Rip is the standard explorer extraordinaire's son, but there's one thing he fears the most – not yetis, not mummy curses, but having to spend time with his peers, which is why his dashing father has dashed off, leaving Rip at a summer camp – for girls. Rip's journal, which handily illustrates all the dialogue as cartoon strips, and breaks out into illustrations at will, gives us a fabulous personality for the young audience, with the lad breaking up his story every few pages with an extended reminiscence, meaning he has been on a goofy amount of dramatic escapades, but ones which really pepper the page with action and excitement. Not only do the flashbacks often include a puzzle, maze or code for us to solve, they dryly continue to form the spirit of the whole piece, which would probably have been fine enough anyway, moving as it does a sort of proto-Indiana Jones into Wimpy Kid territory. I really hope future books in this series, if any, can sustain the whimsy and invention of this title; side characters are fully formed, and despite the breadth of the side-stories there surely is scope for more – and when the audience ages it can turn to the lad's father and his multiple adventures. More would be heartily welcomed.

So, I said I’d be doing more comic book reviews and so here we are. I’m not sure if this is a children’s comic or not, but I think it might be. But I tell you, it can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. I was laughing out loud reading this one. So, let’s get on with the review.

The story begins with Rip Haywire explaining how he got into Camp. He’s a adventurer and goes on top secret awesome adventures with hid Dad. He has discovered numerous treasures. saved princesses…or more like her cat and even got into trouble with an abominable snowman (who now has his iPad). He even has two enemies who always try to spoil his plans :The Doofus brothers. But the problem is, he doesn’t have nay friends, atleast none his age. So, his Dad sends him to a camp. And not just any camp a girls camp. So now Rip has to escape the camp, or atleast try to not get into trouble,which is not easy cause trouble is his middle name. This comic shows his adventures in escaping the camp. It’s so much fun to read. It’s not actually completely in comic format. Like parts of it is written in a novel – like format and parts are comic strip. Although at first it was hard to get used to, I liked it soon. The narration was awesome. But at some points I felt that the author seemed to go on a tangent, like when Rip is about to do something like escape the camp, he’d remember this one other time he had escaped a jungle or something and I would get inpatient to know what was happening in the present. But again it’s something that won’t bother you that much, unless you are impatient. Like I said, this is a children’s comic so, there are puzzles for children to solve in between, I just skipped them. But it would be good and really entertaining for kids to do them.

I adored the humour in the book, I was laughing throughout. Rip is such a cute little kiddo, you end up liking him even though he’s has such a big ego at the beginning. And his dog was hilarious and helped keep a balance with Rip. I really liked this one. It would be perfect for kids and adults alike!

This is an illlustrated journal that is a cross between a chapter book/comic book/graphic novel. Rip's father is a "soldier of fortune". He travels the globe hunting for treasure and Rip and his dog, TNT go with him. One summer, his dad decides he needs to learn how to socialize with kids his own age so send him to summer camp. The problem is that it is a girl's camp and Rip is the only boy there. He decides he needs to escape, but his father has had extra security added so he can not. There are overly protective counselors, a variety of female campers, and lots of trouble. Rip has many flashbacks to his adventuring days and his conflicts with the Doofus brothers. He realizes that he is somewhat of a bully, but can not seem to help himself. With the help of Breezy, one of the campers, he finally settles in to camp and makes some friends. This is heavily illustrated which will appeal to those reluctant readers. There is a silly feel to the book that I think middle graders will enjoy. As long as the children can keep the actual camp adventures and his flashbacks/dreams separate they will enjoy this book. I liked the various puzzles that were scattered throughout the story for the reader to solve. This is a great book for a school and classroom library.

I absolutely loved this! Li'l Rip is the son of famous comic book adventurer Rip Haywire. This book is a chapter book with a combination of text graphic novel panels and puzzles which include mazes, word, and logic. Very interactive and a joy to read. Both witty and sarcastic humour along with emotions and characters (especially Rip) learning lessons about himself. The story is amusing: he's his Dad's sidekick on his world adventures in the mode of Indiana Jones and Allan Quartermain. His Dad is a bit worried that Li'l Rip doesn't have any regular kid interests or hobbies or friends so decides to send him to camp just for the summer. On such spur of the moment notice it's hard to find a camp with an open spot so when he does find one he quickly drops Li'l Rip off and drives away fast. As rip walks up to the main office he finds out why his dad was in such a hurry to get away. He'll be spending the summer at "Pink Powderpuff Summer Camp for Girls". So Rip has plenty of fun and adventure at the camp but the best part is when the story flashbacks to a "This reminds me of time when..." and we go back and follow one of Rips dangerous adventures around the world in rain forests, deserts, meeting the abominable snowman, in Egypt, etc. Hopefully, this is the start of a new series as it's something a little different in the hybrid text/graphic novel format and I'd love to read the next. Great old-timey comics artwork too.

'Li'l Rip Haywire Adventures: Escape from Camp Cooties' by Dan Thompson is a fund read for younger readers. It's a mix of text, graphic novel panels and puzzles to solve along the way.

Li'l Rip is the son of Rip Haywire, who is an amazing adventurer. Li'l Rip is too, and he has quite a few flashbacks to prove it. His dad has sent him on a new adventure, but Li'l Rip thinks there has been a mistake. He finds himself at a Summer camp for girls. Ths is not for him, so he tries to think of a plan for escape. Will he escape or will he be stuck in the most boring Summer ever waiting for his dad to come rescue him?

This book was a lot of fun. I loved the illustrations. They felt like they had a bit of a retro style to me, and they reminded me of classic animation from my childhood. I liked how the book incorporated the puzzles. There are mazes and codes and other things that fit in with the story. I hadn't seen that in a combo book and graphic novel, but it adds a nice element. I think young readers would have a blast reading this book.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.