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Lonely Portia looks out her window one night and sees a giant purple monster shuffling into the woods near her house. So of course she goes out to investigate — and discovers the adorable, silent, hungry creature she eventually names Jellaby. She brings him home and feeds him tuna fish, and he becomes her secret best friend.

Of course, she has to hide him from her mom and her classmates — I mean, what would you do with a giant purple monster? When Jellaby nudges Portia into rescuing her classmate Jason from bullies, Jason and Portia join forces to find Jellaby’s family.

This reminded me of Jeff Smith’s fantastic Bone: first you think it’s a simple, sweet story which is plenty enjoyable in itself, but as you read further, hints start bubbling up about a deeper, more threatening mystery — in this case, what really happened to Portia’s father, who disappeared years ago? And what does that have to do with Jellaby and his origins? This is the first book in a series, so the hints are just that for now.

Portia and Jason are brave, funny, believable kids. Jellaby doesn’t talk, but he’s so expressive: I love the first morning when Portia and Jellaby are walking to school together. Portia kicks some leaves (“shoof shoof”) and Jellaby makes Portia laugh by “shoof shoof shoof”-ing even faster.

The art is all done in purple, white, and black, with a few touches of other colors: Jellaby’s red stripes, Jason’s orange shirt (he has a thing about carrots). I loved the landscape, especially: the bare purple trees are so wintery and atmospheric. I’m much more fluent writing about writing than about art, but Fuse #8 has some smart things to say about Soo’s creation of “invisible ideas.” For my part, suffice to say that I can’t stop looking at it, and can’t wait for the sequel.

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