The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World, a book to go nuts for

We’re fans of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic book from Marvel Comics. It’s one of those of those comic books that has more puns per paragraph than your uncle Murray and securely has its tongue in cheek. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Squirrel Girl Meets World is a novel adaptation of a Squirrel Girl story that will be OK for young readers who are upper elementary students and up. That age range is kind of a switch up from the comic book, which lists itself as appropriate for teens.

In reality the comic book is also great for ages 8 and up. Marvel has a “T” rating on it to denote that it’s rated teen, but the content is OK for years younger than that. From a content perspective Squirrel Meets World is appropriate for any age, however, the reading level is on par with middle school students or kids aged 8 and up.

Squirrel Meets World is written in such a way that keeps readers guessing. Each chapter is about 11 pages long and several chapters are text exchanges between Squirrel Girl and various people. There is even one chapter that mainly consists of comments made on an email site that’s being run by her nemesis, the Micro Manager.

Fans of the Squirrel Girl comic book will enjoy the added detail that goes into her world. We get exposed to her parents and their insistence that she keep her tail hidden because others would be jealous. There are a couple main squirrels whose personality is given the chance to shine, her best friend Ana Sofia, as well as, the cool girl squad. There are enough ancillary characters to flush out the story to create a teen-world where ‘cool’ is the highest form of currency.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World is a funny book whose character will draw in readers. I wouldn’t say that this is a reluctant reader book because it involves 100% reading. Books more geared for reluctant readers have illustrations on most of the pages and are more akin to Wimpy Kid. This is all reading, but it’s a fun, brisk read that will suck in middle school students before they can say Squirrel Scouts.

As a hero Squirrel Girl will be refreshing to young readers because she’s not typical and the book acknowledges that. Is she even a hero? What are her super powers? These questions and more are asked to help set up the situations the reveal the answer as yes, and that everyone can be one too.