Hermit Hill

Sueño Bay Adventures

by Nancy Deas, Mike Deas

In this graphic novel for early middle readers, the youngest member of a ragtag crew of kids feels left out of a big project and finds himself a group of magical moon creatures to lord over.

In the small village of Sueño Bay, famous for its mysterious crystals and legendary moon creatures, friends Ollie, Jenna, Sleeves and Kay are building a go-kart for the annual Fall Fair competition.

Living in the nearby hills are tiny moon creatures, the Hivers, who play a crucial role in the health of the local mushroom crop. But the Hivers' important job is interrupted when Sleeves, the youngest of the group, stumbles upon them. Feeling left out of the go-kart project, Sleeves claims the Hivers as his loyal subjects and locks them away when he's not around. Without the Hivers, the island's mushroom crop starts to take a turn for the worse. Stories say that the last person who messed with the Hivers, the Hillside Hermit, was cursed to roam alone and never return to Sueño Bay. Is Sleeves destined to suffer the same fate or can he and his friends return balance to the island in time?

This is the third book in the Sueño Bay Adventures series, following Shadow Island and Otter Lagoon.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Adventure, Childrens, Juvenile, Middle Grade

192 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2022

Reviews

[V · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sueno Bay series is spectacular. T loves it. I love it. And we love to read it together. He likes "how you discover that the Grundle twin has a long lost sister." He liked the sister - "how she was all 'beware, we must take responsibility for our actions'." He suggests that for the next book, "One of the monsters should be something like Bigfoot or a yeti or a snow monster - a snow monster would be good." T also wants you to know, "I like how at the beginning of all the books, there's a little backflash of a long time ago."

In this third installment of Sueno Bay Adventures, Sleeves is the focal character. When he is marginalized by the older children during the construction of a go-kart, he finds solace with moon creatures in the forest. Believing himself to be their king and protector, he locks them up, to disastrous results. Sleeves and his friends experience firsthand the danger of disrupting nature's balance and the value in protecting vulnerable creatures and their habitat rather than caging them. All the while, the older children are, with varying degrees of success, navigating disagreements with friends and accepting disappointments. Of particular note is how Jenna learns to collaborate on the project instead of control it. There are valuable examples to take in while enjoying the adventure of Hermit Hill.

This whole series is one to follow, and one that I regularly go to when gift shopping or when asked for recommendations.

[The Silvan Reverie | Sarah Street · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice graphic novel for middle grade readers that mashes together some science fiction and environmental themes. The narrative also deals with themes of friendship and sibling relationships and what it means to really live in community with other people (with all its highs and lows). I thought the illustrations nicely depict the action of the story. A few times with the narrative I felt like I was missing something, but I confess I have not read books 1 and 2 in this series so it may be that these need to be read in sequence.

I appreciated the environmental themes -- how nature is often just better without humans meddling and controlling it. Even if the "nature" in this story is fictional Hivers, tiny Moon Creatures who play a crucial roll in the local mushroom crop and forest ecosystem. It works and engages children's imagination along with their empathy.

I'm curious now to read the other two and will be checking them out!

***Note: I was given a review copy of this book via Orca Book Publishers. Opinions are my own.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book fit together better than the last one; Sleeves is significantly younger than the other characters and so his impulsiveness and troublemaking make more sense. What doesn't really make sense is why Tabitha (the hermit) doesn't intervene sooner, given how dangerous it seems to be to keep the Hivers caged. And what is the darkness that their activity keeps at bay?

[Julesy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy this series but Sleeves is such a brat and provides no value to the series, especially with that annoying snot always hanging out of his nose. Take him out of the picture and the series will be A+.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the drawings but the kid was a little annoying. C+

[Carissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third book in the Sueno Bay series. Magical creatures that you can't capture and lock up or mushrooms on the island turn into black goo

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this series. The Deas' really know how to write and draw children in a dynamic, realistic way. And the stories are really fun and engrossing.

[Justin Swanson]

🗣️read aloud to kids

[Berslon Pank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one more than the second one in the series.