Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of New York Times Best-Selling Authors Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, but I have now become one of their biggest fans. That is thanks to their work on The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World. This fantastic and unique Marvel novel brings us a great perspective on a unconventional super hero.
Fourteen-year-old Doreen Green is a new comer to New Jersey, but she is hiding her superpowers, a fluffy tail and the ability to communicate with squirrels. This unique hero is blessed with a fun unique form of storytelling. Each chapter is told from a different perspective, sometimes through Doreen, sometimes through her friend Ana Sofia, as well as squirrel Tippy-Toe and even text messenger. All the while receiving annotations in the form of foot notes from Doreen who now has the benefit of hindsight.
A unique hero, requires a unique origin story, and this makes for quite a fun read. In many ways it reminds you of the early years of Peter Parker where what made him special was finding out how a teenager dealt with being Spider-Man. This made this book a page-turner that I could not put down. While some have talked about the possibility of super hero fatigue, this novel shows how diverse the genre can be. The book doesn’t just rely on its uniqueness to bring it quality, the writing is clever and has a way of bringing you the challenges of being a teenager without delving into full fledged angst. In fact, its title’s homage to the “Boy Meets World” franchise as the novel mirrors the television show’s balance between real-world teen issues and fun.
If you read my review of Rocket and Groot: Stranded on a Strip Mall, you know that I love it when a little bit of levity can be introduced into the Marvel Universe (PSA: The second book in the series is about to be released.) Let’s hope that this is just the first installment in this series. I give it 5 out of 5 chestnuts.