When I was a kid, I was absolutely enchanted by the movie The Goonies...and it's still one of my favorites of all time (definitely Top Five material). Because nostalgia and because who wouldn't want to go on a high-stakes treasure hunt with your best friends and (a few years older) crush? It's pretty obvious author Kiwi Smith felt a similar kinship with this classic film when she drew inspiration for her graphic novel series Misfit City.
Wilder and her friends live in a small coastal town that was the setting for a (now) cult classic, Goonies-esque film. Any kid not from Cannon Cove would be thrilled to live there, but for someone born and raised and having to deal with tourists and the constant mention of the movie that put the town on the map... And then there's the legend of the supposed real-life pirate Black Mary upon whose story the movie was based (there's even a museum devoted to her). Well...it can wear on a person. In fact, Wilder can't wait to get out of Cannon Cove and move somewhere else. Anywhere else. Even if it means leaving her best friends behind.
But then an actual treasure map turns up. And actual bad guys after the map (and the treasure to which it leads). And when Wilder and her friends get caught up in the drama, they discover that some legends just might be true.
Misfit City is awesome and the perfect thing to read on a gloomy early-fall afternoon. It's part Goonies, part Scooby-Doo, and all awesome!
--AJB
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