The Wild Ones

Review
By Shelf Awareness

Megan Lacera and Jorge Lacera's sophomore picture book, The Wild Ones, is as inclusive and endearing as their much-praised 2019 debut, Zombies Don't Eat Veggies.

All Valentina's life, "the Wild Oaks apartment building has been home." Valentina's best friends Jasmine, Andy, and Xander also live in Wild Oaks, hence their group name: the Wild Ones. And the Wild Ones are "obsessed with monsters," specifically the monster they believe is lurking in a cave deep in the nearby Steelburg forest. However, none of the Wild Ones agree on which monster their neighbor must be: Colombian Valentina believes she's La Tunda; Haitian Xander thinks she's Loogaroo; Irish Andy is convinced she's a Banshee; and Indian Jasmine is sure the monster is the ghost Vetal. But one Saturday morning, when the kids return to the community room for monster talk, they find their grown-ups discussing a "monster-size nightmare." Developers are looking to destroy Wild Oaks to make room for new businesses. The Wild Ones spring into action to save their home; when their efforts are not enough, they decide to find the monster in the forest in hopes it will help them "scare away the developers for good."

The Laceras' Wild Ones are the definition of friends to the end: whether the enemy is a bully or a developer, the kids stick together and hold firm in their beliefs. "No matter what they say, we know there's a monster! And it's just like us--an outsider." No matter that their home is on the verge of demolition, they brainstorm 347 different solutions to save it. Despite the threat of destruction (and monsters), the authors keep the accessible text lighthearted and funny.

Jorge Lacera's brightly colored digital illustrations, featuring both panels and full-page spreads, are dynamic and energetic, keeping up the excitement and fast pace. Word boxes and speech bubbles help make the graphic novel visually comprehensible to young readers. The Laceras paid attention to detail in both text and illustration; the endpapers, done in a retro, comic book-art style, work as an introduction to each monster and are accompanied by monster stats, country of origin, name meaning, characteristics, and more fun facts. Ultimately, the Wild Ones save the building and get to meet their favorite monsters. Turns out, there wasn't one heroic monster in the forest--there were four.

The Wild Ones is an inclusive and endearing graphic novel for young readers.