BAND CAMP!

Four wildly different anthropomorphic instruments experience their first summer sleepaway camp.

Ah, camp! Where lucky kids can enjoy nature, play games…and be subjected to terrifying ghost stories as well as mean jokes and pranks. Trey the triangle is skittish but also quick with a riposte. Zook the kazoo is cluelessly confident. Overenthusiastic Kaylee the ukulele can’t stop talking but has real leadership potential. Nerdy Cordelia the accordion eagerly spouts laughable statistics and factoids. The four share Bunk J—cruelly labeled “Junk Bunk” by a too-cool-for-school trio who won last year's Big Bunk Battle. When our quartet catches on, Kaylee swings into coaching mode. They're all eager to take home the prize this summer. But their divergent interests—nature, model building, reading, video games—divide them until they discover a shared passion for performer MC Mica. Will Bunk J be able to pull together to beat the odds? Smith has crafted a strong series starter with this graphic novel. The vibrant art evokes old-time comics, rich in color and detail. Pacing, characterization, and conflict are deft and engaging.

A five-chapter overture to a series that campers and noncampers will tune in to with glee.