Review by Frank Plowright

Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal in a mountainous region, and that’s where Dev lives. He’s young, has an overactive imagination, and pals around with his cat Tuna. When there’s a tremor, he worries it’s a Yeti, which surely isn’t possible in summer. His grandmother doesn’t believe him, but that doesn’t prevent his imagination going into overdrive.

Sneha Pradhan’s story straddles the borderline between illustrated children’s book and graphic novel in being aimed at very young readers. Much of what happens is told by narrative caption accompanied by Promina Shrestha’s appealing large drawings, but once or twice on a page there’ll also be a word balloon. There’s a deceptive simplicity to the art as the figures are generally large, possibly drawing attention away from how completely the surroundings are provided. While the sample page isn’t representative of the book as a whole, the work put into the cutaway of Dev’s house as he imagines the Yeti’s presence certainly is.

No matter how many times he’s told a Yeti can’t be around in the summer, Dev knows it must be a Yeti causing the trail of destruction around the house, yet his parents think it’s him being naughty. As the mess continues, Dev’s parents become angrier and more disappointed.

The child not believed by older people is a classic trope of children’s stories, and Pradhan works it well for Yelp! Yeti! We want to believe Dev, but we only ever see the yeti in his imagination, so the destruction remains a mystery. Along the way to solving it we’re introduced to Dev’s family and friends, all the while wondering if there is actually a Yeti. Let’s just say the story wanders into the same territory as The Snowman.

Yelp! Yeti! is a delight, good humoured and well drawn, and the good news is that further adventures for Dev are planned.