Mr. Wolf’s Class: Mystery Club, an elementary school go-to graphic novel

Up until a certain age, people want to do things that people older than them do. Some of it is peer pressure, possibly an unstated level of envy or sibling rivalry. The younger one always wants to do what the older one is doing.  A kid’s first graphic novel can be tough because there aren’t many of them and there are even fewer good ones. As a parent, or reviewer, one also doesn’t want to describe something as “a kid’s first” because it could imply that it’s juvenile. So, now that we’ve laid that minefield thoroughly……Mr. Wolf’s Class: Mystery Club is a great graphic novel that hammers home how great reading can be to those who are pre-K through third grade.

This is the second book in this series by Aron Nels Steinke about Mr. Wolf’s class, its anthropomorphic students and the fun (plus lessons) that they have. This is in no way a ‘lesson graphic novel’ that’s heavy on morals, what to do or how to behave. So, you rebellious younger kids who are simply looking for a fun book will be OK with this. However, Mystery Club does offer lots of mainly good examples of behavior and actions that you’d like your friends-or your child’s friends to exhibit.

It’s a very cute book that perfectly encapsulates how elementary school kids act, the urban legends that every playground, classroom and personality of blocks of students. As any high school student could relate to, and think of numerous real-life examples of the characters in The Breakfast Club; elementary school readers will immediately plug into Mystery Club.

Aziza, Randy and Margot have questions about life, interpersonal relationships, how to deal with potentially difficult people and more. Of course, they broach these issues in ways that a first grader will understand, because it’s highly probable that those same kids are encountering the same things. They’re making clubs, going to parties, wondering what happens to their teachers when they go home and more.

The friendly, approachable art in Mr. Wolf’s Class is one that this age group will gravitate to also. There’s an animal of every sort in the book with age appropriate mystery to keep ages 6-9 grinning throughout. This is one of those series that elementary schools need to have in their library. The vocabulary in the book is semi-challenging for our first grader. He can read most of the sight words, but there are still many bigger words that he tags up for help with. However, it’s a book that he enjoys looking at-and leisure reading is key to raising a kid with a love of books. The third book in the series, Lucky Stars will be out in September 2019.