‘Donut Feed the Squirrels’ is a Sweet Surprise of a Graphic Novel

Earlier this year in March, Random House Graphic gave us all a sneak peek of the second wave of graphic novels for younger readers. That was the month of March which now in hindsight, feels like a lifetime ago. I read up on several titles that looked like such fun books to read and mentioned a few of them here. A kid with a love of fairy tales, tea parties with a touch of the supernatural, and even a story about two crafty squirrels, that are best friends on the biggest mission of their lives.

Norma and Belly are living their best lives as squirrely best friends who seem to live life to the fullest in a big tree that houses all the squirrels nearby. Ever optimistic, even obstacles like burned breakfast or bad customer service can’t keep them down when a food truck offering up something most delectable and delicious that they have never seen before appears nearby. After some observation, a plan is launched and all the pieces and players matter! 

Mika Song’s artwork is unique and should intrigue young readers. One of the opening pages reveals that this book was “drawn with pencil, sumi brushes, sumi ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.” Placed there to possibly serve as a note of the creative process, it could also open up the questions and discussions even before the book is started–like what is a sumi brush? How is it different from a regular paintbrush? It could also serve to open up eyes to the expectations of what graphic novels may look like–not every book …