Scarygirl: The origin story by Nathan Jurevicius

This colourful, wordless graphic novel was first published in 2009 and since then there have been multiple manifestations of Scarygirl’s story, most recently a much-anticipated Australian animation film. For those not familiar with the story there is an introductory page followed by bios for eight characters reminiscent of collector cards, including Scarygirl, "on a mission to find the man behind her haunting dreams” and Blister “a super-intelligent giant octopus, Scarygirl’s guardian”. From then on readers need to pay close attention to the pictorial narrative as there are almost no words. Colour is used effectively to indicate mood and the graphic thought bubbles, mostly in the form of simple equations indicate thoughts and intentions. As Scarygirl and her friends (who are not always reliable) set out to find the mystery man in her dreams they encounter psychedelic worlds and degraded maze-like landscapes where it is not clear who is to be trusted. The highly detailed, vivid graphics keep the reader wondering where the next threat will come from as the adventure unfolds. At the end of the book are pages from Nathan Jurevicius’ notebook of line drawings that inspired some of the film concepts. The lack of words makes this accessible to a wide age group but some of the action really is scary, involving cash for betrayal, drugs and operations, requiring some caution when recommending to younger readers.

Themes: Adventure, Friendship, Identity.

Sue Speck