Urban Legend Hunters: The Dreaded Mr Snipe

Written by Joel McKerrow
Illustrated by Wayne Bryant
Reviewed by Rebecca Sheraton

Joel McKerrow is a well-regarded poet, known for his poetry collections, poetry performances and spoken word/music albums, and he has bravely and successfully stepped into a new literary area, graphic novels with Urban Legend Hunters, a mysterious, fun and spooky series for children set in one of childhood’s most important events—school camp.

Urban Legend Hunters: The Dreaded Mr Snipe (Book 1) follows misfits Jeremy Jubaya (JJ) an expert spooky storyteller and gadget nerd, Samantha Small a feisty sporty go-getter and misnamed Bad Boris, a loveable, strong scaredy-cat as they become unlikely friends at school camp. When Jeremey’s late-night ghost story session around the campfire is interrupted by creepy sounds that frighten the other campers away, JJ, Sam and Bad Borris band together to uncover several mysteries or urban legends at camp, like the Toothless Man and the Snipe who steals sport balls from children.

The story effectively alternates between the narrator, told on white notebook pages and the dominant black and white graphic novel panels that carry the story. The text is funny, creepy, action-packed and fast paced. The characters sound goofy and childlike as they bond while investigating the mysteries at camp and these events only deepen the friendship between this team. Adults will appreciate the humour given to the teachers supervising the camp and the underlying themes that your truest friends lift each other up, appreciate their differences, have your back and shared interests unite them (not always popular).

The illustrations and book design add to and elevate the humour in the story and bring the characters and events of school camp to life.

Urban Legend Hunters: The Dreaded Snipe is an easy, fun and creepy read for children in grades 2-4 who are keen to become independent readers and devour books like Bad Guys, Ahn Do Weirdo or 13 Story Treehouse. It is a page-turning story and light read, especially for reluctant readers, who hopefully will get hooked and can’t wait to read the upcoming, Urban Legend Hunters 2: The Hideous Mrs Mortimer. It would be a great class read aloud leading up to camp.

Larrikin House 2024.

Rebecca Sheraton is a children’s writer and primary school teacher.