Booger Beard
Vicente “Vinny” Navarrate (Author), Vinny Navarrate and Keith Wood (Design), Vinny Navarrate (Logo Design), and Jill Beaton and Robin Herrera (Editors)
Oni Press, June 2015
(Note: This review contains spoilers and panels. WWAC reviewed Booger Beard with an advanced review copy from Oni Press.)
Booger Beard follows young Mijo as he receives a disgustingly awesome booger beard (also referred to as barba) after one giant sneeze.
I’m an impulse reader, and my picks usually come from interesting covers and taglines. On a week when my kiddos and I were in need of laugh, the cover of Booger Beard caught my eye. When I opened the comic up for a peek inside, my son’s eyes were immediately drawn to the screen with an excited, “What’s that?” And I knew I had a winner.
The kiddo and I curled up and giggled our way through Mijo’s imagination as he tries to convince his mother why he should be allowed to keep his drippy green booger beard. While waiting for his mom to prepare his snack, Mijo conjures up several scenarios where a booger beard would be appropriate. The reader is taken through panels where Mijo acts out a caveman, luchador, pirate Capitàn, Paul Bunyan, and a garden gnome, to name just a few. Each time his mother tries to convince him to either wipe off the booger beard or allow her to help him remove it. Each time Mijo comes up with a new argument in favor of keeping his booger beard. Finally, his mom allows him to make his own decision about keeping it. She brings him his snack, and he realizes eating while having mocos on his face isn’t as much fun as he’d originally thought.
Booger Beard is a bilingual comic, which presents Spanish mixed with English in a Dora-esque style that was familiar and fun, and even though I’m not bilingual, it was not difficult to infer the Spanish words used throughout. The comic also ends with a glossary of Spanish words used by Mijo and his mother, which allowed for a teachable moment between the kiddo and me.
If the thought of boogers makes you ill, don’t worry. The art in this graphic novel is so bright and enjoyable you may forget Mijo’s face is wrapped in “boogie nuggets.” As for me, and most that have any dealings with youngsters, boogies are something you pick off your shirt when you are used like a living tissue on a daily basis.
This is a silly pick-me-up-and-make-me-giggle comic and one that I can recommend for kids and adults alike. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more from this creator.
