I wanted to love this -- the warm and whimsical art! The not-scary Bigfoot! The odd couple friendship!

Unfortunately, the cerebral tone was too much to overcome and will be a barrier to lots of kid readers. Young readers will be drawn to the art style, but will get bogged down with lines like "the decline of romanticism in a postmodern world," "bereft of culture, class, and civility" and more (yes these are actual lines from one of the cutesy characters).

The meandering plot makes this more philosophy ASMR than story, though I suppose the descriptor could be catnip for the right reader.

Very cute story of friends who go on a trip to the big city. Luis and Pablo are such fun characters. Their banter is very funny. The story was a quick read but completely entertaining. I recommend for early readers and beyond.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is such a fun whimsical novel about two friends who go on an adventure to the big city. Everyday is the same two unlikely friends, a bear and a mole. They navigate the familiarity of the everyday life, while one friend is content with the mundane routine of everyday life, one is not. Bear wants to explore the big city. After he wins tickets to a show in the city, he and his friend mole, journey through the forest on an adventure to the big city, making new memories along the way! Such a fun book for any age! I recommend it for all ages!

This was a wonderful story of a bear and a mole living the slow life in the woods. This book is definitely for someone who likes to ask cerebral questions about life and why things are the way they are. The art is so cute and the world makes you want to know more about these characters an their lives! Perfect read for a pensive rainy day.

So, maybe this is intended for adults. It feels like one of those odd newspaper funnies where you wonder who it was written for and why those people would find it funny. OF course, graphic novels don't have to be funny. This is very much an introspective, why are we here kind of story that I doubt most young people would be into. Also mole is kind of mean.

Thank you for the ARC.

A cozy story about two wild friends on a journey to The Big City. There are many moments of joyful friendship throughout the graphic novel, which had me chuckle at the one liners, but also bask in the heartwarming-ness of two friends being together.

It made me think of Jory John's series of Bear & Duck, with how genuine the characters were, and similar humor.

But... why?

I spent most of my reading time making a really weird face, wondering what the point of this was. It has the general shape of a story, I guess, but it mostly felt like random things were being said that were supposed to sound wise but weren't. I wasn't sure who the audience was, because it seems like it's supposed to be kids based on the humor, but also there are a lot of things that seemed more aimed at adults, and neither end of that spectrum worked for me. I don't need a book to have a moral, but I would like there to be SOMETHING. This was all pretty jumbled and random in a way that I didn't enjoy.

There are also no stakes. The only real choice either of the MCs makes is to be a real jerk, and then there are no consequences. At all. It made me actively dislike the characters by the end.

I think the best way to sum this up is that, IMO, a story can be 'random' and nonsensical so long as it has an internal logic, but this didn't. Bewilderness indeed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I see other people had a good time with it, so maybe I'm just no fun.

This graphic novel is a philosophical journey for two animals and the community they inhabit, as they explore big questions like: Can we have culture in the woods? Their adventure leads them on a quest to find answers.

The artwork is absolutely lovely, and I especially appreciated that the story takes place in its own unique world—complete with a map. The philosophical musings, presented through animal characters, are fun and thought-provoking. I think there’s a specific subset of middle grade readers who will be drawn to this blend of quirky humor and introspective themes.

That said, the intended audience feels a bit unclear. While it’s marketed for younger readers, much of the tone feels quite adult. The humor—particularly Pablo’s—can veer into snarky or even mean-spirited, and the pacing is notably slow.

The absolute highlight for me—and the character who completely stole my heart—is Ray. I’m lost too, Ray. He’s beautiful, and honestly, he (along with the artwork) is what saved the book for me. My rating is entirely based on him and the visuals.

A worthwhile purchase for middle school libraries, especially for readers who enjoy offbeat humor, deep questions, or stunning illustration.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

“Into the Bewilderness” is a fun and heartwarming graphic novel with a colorful art style and lots of charm.

The story follows Luis, a good-natured bear who dreams of seeing the Big City. When he wins tickets to a play there, he sets off on an adventure, accompanied by his grumpy best friend, Pablo.

Luis’s and Pablo’s journey is entertaining and made for a great middle grade book that I can definitely recommend reading.

This was a super cute graphic novel about getting out of your comfort zone and going on an adventure to the big city. The illustrations are adorable and Luis and Pablo’s friendship is just so sweet.
Thanks to HarperAlley and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

An absolute delight and so hilarious. This book was somehow incredibly deep yet still so light and innocent. I would 100% watch this as a cartoon; it is so cute and funny! Luis and Pablo’s friendship is so sweet and makes me so happy. I hope get to see more of them!

This is a fantastical, imaginative, and creative sweet and humorous animal story sure to be a hit with kids ages 7-10 who love animals and out of the box humor.
The art is full of interesting details especially of the scenery of the forest and the city and readers will find lots of details to pour through.
There is excellent messaging about friendship, going outside of your comfort zone, and appreciating what’s in your own backyard.
Give this to fans of Frog and Toad, Skunk and Badger, and The Eyes and the Impossible.

Wow, I enjoyed it so much!
It was humorous, thought-provoking, and deep, all while being silly and fun. I laughed out loud and even had to share parts and quotes with friends because, wow, it was that good.
In some parts, I had to pause for a moment and reflect...
The characters were fun to get to know (and sometimes uncannily relatable—I mean, really, how do we distinguish a light meal from a large snack?)
The art was clear, with vivid colors and a nice flow.
Overall, an incredibly enjoyable read.

3 stars

I wasn't sure what the bewilderness was, but after reading this book, I believe that is the state I entered while engaging with this material. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just...different.

The illustrations are charming, and this - along with the expectation of some good friendship content and maybe some dashes of ecocritical motifs - drew me to this graphic novel. I did get what I was hoping for to some degree, but there are some other unexpected inclusions that have left me feeling a bit conflicted about the read overall. The most challenging element is that the audience for this is somewhat unknowable. This is a known children's author, but the content is pretty dark at times (and strange?), and this doesn't quite read like a typical children's graphic novel. It's also a little rudimentary for the average adult reader. I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to based on this audience confusion. Along with the audience issue, the plot just takes some bizarre turns. At times, the journey feels forced and a bit slower than I'd have preferred.

Readers looking to read about the bewilderness, and perhaps take a trip there themselves, will enjoy this peculiar experience.

Gordon has a lovely style and the artwork in this book is really beautiful and fun. Unfortunately, the story was a bit hard to pin down. I feel like it walked a line between an older reader and a younger one but not successfully. Maybe it was because it took a very long time to get into the book, well long by graphic novel or picture book standards. The first 10 - 20 pages really didn't go anywhere that made sense to me, and the fact that the two characters kept referring to each other by their names and nicknames alternately made for a confusing start. Once things got rolling, effectively once they got on the bus to the big city, the story took a bit more of a turn and picked up. In the end, it was a good book, but it definitely had some growing kinks to work out still in order to really move out of my 3 star rating pile.

There were some fun scenes, great artwork, and an interesting story that wasn't too complicated. Just hard to follow at times even with the assumption that the world building was fine.

This story was so much fun. I love friendships where one of them is grumpier but they clearly love each other. The story itself had me giggling, and the pictures are so cute.

As I do with most graphic novels, I saw the adorable cover art and knew I had to read this. Plus it's about two forest friends who go on an adventure? Sign me up!!

The art is definitely my favorite thing about this book! I love the sketchy, loose outlines paired with the warm colors, and especially the textures and details of the colors! My favorite parts were the trees and nature details!

Aside from the gorgeous art, the story itself is so cute! Pablo and Luis are such delightful characters and their dynamic was adorable! If you love the sunshine x grumpy dynamic, you will love these two! Pablo reminded me quite a lot of myself...

Apart from these two they also have some amazing friends, my favorite being Ray, the "friendly neighborhood behemoth" aka their local cryptid who never really knows where he is.

This story is all about finding joy in what you have, and sometimes you need to have a little adventure outside your comfort zone to truly see how wonderful your life is!

"Into the Bewilderness" is a middle grade graphic novel by Gus Gordon. Luis (a bear) and Pablo (a mole) live in the forest and are best friends. When Luis gets free tickets to a show in the city, they go on an adventure. The artwork was cute and funny, but their friendship seemed prickly at times with Pablo constantly making digs at Luis. A suggested additional purchase for graphic novel collections.

Into the Bewilderness is highly awesome. The book is packed with silly characters spewing delightful nonsense (like Roaming Ray, the Sasquatch maybe?)

It’s a kids’ graphic novel intended for ages 8-12, which means no foul language, violence or other unwholesome content. The banter between Luis and Pablo gets a bit mean-spirited at times, but ultimately their friendship outshines any negativity.

Much of the humor in this graphic novel will likely resonate better with parents, rather than the 8-year-olds it is intended for. But hey, the humor connected with me, so who cares about darn 8-year-olds!?

Much of the adventure unfolds without words. Gordon’s immersive illustrations bring the bewilderness to life on every page. This is a book that could be read and studied over and over again, simply by enjoying the elaborate artwork.

Into The Bewilderness is a graphic novel for ages 8-12 that follows two best friends, Luis the bear and Pablo the mole. Luis has been searching for culture and knows he can find it in the big city, but will he be able to convince his best friend to come along? While reading this graphic novel I wasn’t really sure what age group this was for -the humor is off and typically pretty mean instead of funny (and the characters don’t apologize for their mean behavior/ leave a lesson from it). This really put a sour taste in my mouth. A positive to me was the art - it was really the only reason I was motivated to finish this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read Into The Bewilderness