The Bigfoot Files

August 1, 2018
A skeptical middle schooler gets more than she bargained for in her own search for Bigfoot.Asian-American Miranda Cho, 12, has big plans, with the lists to prove it. She is student-body president and aims to go to a prestigious leadership camp in Washington, D.C. The only problem is that she is on the verge of losing credits from too many absences. Her mom, Kat, who is also Asian-American, is a cryptozoologist--a serious one. This means last-minute trips to remote wilderness chasing the next big sighting of Bigfoot with little success. Her anxiety surfacing in a hair-pulling habit, Miranda tries to take her mom's comical eccentricities in stride until she discovers a drawer full of unpaid bills threatening eviction and any possibility of her dreams coming true. Desperate, she plans her own Bigfoot search with her mom with the goal of shaming her into reality and, at the very least, responsible parenting. Very quickly her plans fall through, leading her to question everything. Although Miranda is introduced as the perfect Asian student, Kat acts as a foil and provides conflict enough to allow a fully rounded personality to develop. Eagar has a beautiful way with words. Her complex internal dialogues and descriptors allow readers to visualize, in minute detail, every physical and mental aspect of each character and their current surroundings. However, these skillfully in-depth descriptors often usurp the pace and plot.Unlike the elusive Bigfoot, there is little left to the imagination in this quirky mother-daughter story for studious readers. (Fiction. 11-14)

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September 17, 2018
Eager (Race to the Bottom of the Sea) crafts an appealing novel about 12-year-old Miranda Cho—a straight-A student, compulsive list maker, and unlikely student body president. Her chaotic cryptozoologist mother Kat, the blogger behind the fictional Bigfoot Files blog, lives for the chase, but Miranda is tired of missing school to seek mythical animals. She longs for proof of their existence—or not—all the while hoping that her absent father will return. Tension heightens when Miranda discovers stacks of bills and foreclosure notices that threaten the family’s home, not to mention her dream of attending leadership camp in Washington, D.C. Miranda agrees to take one final trip to persuade her mother that fantastical creatures do not exist, but the adventure takes a drastic turn when their van breaks down, and roles reverse in crisis. Eager effectively sketches Miranda’s embarrassment about her mother’s offbeat ways and her beaten-up “Critter Mobile” (a van with antlers). While the idea of who is the real parent repeats, and some pacing drags, Eager makes a case for belief—in the uncanny, sure, but most of all in the people one loves. Ages 10–14. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary.

September 15, 2018
Grades 5-8 Having a mother who's a cryptozoologist sounds like fun, but following her childlike whims leaves Miranda feeling like the adult in their single-parent home. Miranda holds herself together by keeping detailed to-do lists, being a perfect student, and pinning her hopes on getting into a competitive summer leadership camp. Miranda is already stressed more than any seventh-grader should be, and her worries skyrocket when she finds a pile of unpaid bills. There's only one thing to do?convince Mom that Bigfoot isn't real, so she'll get a real job and start acting like a responsible grownup. To accomplish this, Miranda agrees to go on one more Bigfoot hunt, one guided by scientific methodology and her own itinerary. Eagar continues to show her talents as a writer in her third novel, which is rooted in Miranda's internal struggles. Readers hoping for a zany creature caper should look elsewhere, but those who appreciate introspection will be absorbed by Miranda's circling thoughts, worries, and anger, and what turns out to be an eye-opening adventure marked by danger and the fantastic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Twelve-year-old anxious perfectionist Miranda Cho joins her absentminded cryptozoologist mom on one last Bigfoot hunt, determined to convince her to abandon "make-believe" pursuits and get a real job. Their expedition to the Olympic National Park rainforest becomes a survival adventure, complete with potential werebears, fairy villages, and Bigfoot's cave. This engaging yarn blurs myth and reality; third-person narration amplifies the wildness of Miranda's spiraling thoughts and the almost mystical forest.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2018
Twelve-year-old Miranda Cho is a serious student and science-fair champ. Nobody at school knows she yanks out her hair when she feels overwhelmed, just as nobody knows about Kat, her eccentric single mom, an absentminded cryptozoologist. It was fun to believe in fairies when she was young, but now Miranda finds her mother's beliefs bizarre, embarrassing, and?when the bills go unpaid?terrifying. Miranda channels her anxious perfectionism into an elaborate scheme: she'll join Kat on one last Bigfoot hunt and, wielding her scientific know-how, convince Kat to abandon her make-believe pursuits and get a real job. Determined daughter and dreamy mother clash during their increasingly perilous trip to the Olympic National Park rainforest. A spiraling, effusive third-person narration amplifies both the wildness of Miranda's thoughts and the awe-inspiring, almost mystical forest ( Miranda saw the forest again for what it was. A tunnel of green, a claustrophobic, lushly green labyrinth?was that its heartbeat she heard now? ). Their expedition quickly becomes a survival adventure, complete with potential werebears, fairy villages, and the cave of Bigfoot itself. While the eventual resolution comes too suddenly, this is an engaging yarn that blurs myth and reality. jessica tackett macdonald

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)