The Monster Detector

July 1, 2018

Gr 2-4-Hugo and Boone are back. Hugo, Boone's best friend (who also happens to be a sasquatch), attends the Academy for Curious Squidges. He is pleasantly surprised, as are all the other young sasquatch, when Boone joins their class. This move gives Boone and Hugo an opportunity to spend every day together and talk about their future as cryptozoologists, searching for and understanding monsters and other legendary creatures. One day, Boone shares some of his monster cards with the others in class and they come upon a card with a less-than-positive description of a Sasquatch. When Boone is unsuccessful at apologizing to everyone for the way humans portray sasquatch, he is left with no other choice than to run away from school. Worried about Boone, Hugo follows him out of the classroom, and the two of them then find themselves in a situation that can prove to all the other squidges that when a sasquatch and a human work together, they can solve anything. Potter has once again penned a winner with this sequel to Big Foot and Little Foot. She includes just the right amount of adventure and excitement to keep children engaged and wanting to know what happens next. Her characters are believable and enchanting. The illustrations are simple but illuminating. VERDICT A successful installment in a delightful series about friendship and embracing differences in others.-Davia Schmidt, Queens Public Library, NY

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2018
Sasquatch Hugo and human Boone deal with monsters, stereotypes, and cultural misunderstandings in the follow-up to Big Foot and Little Foot (2018).After three years spent collecting wrappers from Mad Marvin's Monster Cards, Hugo has finally saved up enough to send in for a prize. What arrives is a wristwatch-style monster detector filled with weechie-weechie moths that will flap their wings noisily when monsters are near. Exploring Widdershins Cavern in search of monsters, the detector guides Hugo to a secret entrance to the Big Wide World--where green fur and bones indicate the presence of the Green Whistler, a creature rumored to eat young squidges like him. Meanwhile, home-schooled Boone turns up at the Academy for Curious Squidges, wanting to attend; while only one of the sasquatch kids is openly prejudiced against humans, Boone endures an escalating string of misunderstandings that's ended only by another crisis--the reappearance of the Green Whistler. Budding cryptozoologists Boone and Hugo pursue only to discover one last misunderstanding and a family history of cross-species friendship. The sasquatch humor and heroes' earnestness make for a compelling story with natural flow, and the turnabout scenarios in which white Boone operates as a minority among the sasquatches are thoughtfully done. A lovely story of using empathy to work through culture clashes. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)

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