Review by Ian Keogh
With over eighty novels and counting, The Bailey School Kids is an undeniable success for young children. The hook is the possibility of mildly spooky occurrences that the youngsters see and then investigate, in this case an apparent ghost in the attic at the home of Eddie’s Great Aunt Mathilda.
Although, the fifth of the novels, this adaptation is the third graphic novel, with Angeli Rafer new to the series as artist, transferring the work of Marcia Thornton Jones and Debbie Dadey to comics. Bailey is the town in which the cast live. and for readers outside the USA, the potato chips in the title are what the rest of the English speaking world calls crisps.
The featured children are between six and ten years of age, and the books are aimed at children of a similar age, so there’s a hint of the supernatural, but after the children have overcome their fears there’s a plausible explanation. Well, for some events, anyway. As well as the suggestion of a ghost, the kids have to deal with the formidable Great Aunt Mathilda, who might be bedridden, but she hasn’t lost her authoritative personality.
Rafer’s cartooning is designed to appeal to young children. There’s not much in the way of background distractions and it’s clearly shown how one situation or movement leads to the next. The children all have personalities and they’re drawn as friendly for the most part, Eddie’s grumpiness in the sample art not reflecting his greater resilience later.
With the books already such a success that the brand is communally imprinted, there’s no reason the graphic novels shouldn’t be as popular.