Camper introduces readers to Lupe Impala, Flapjack Octopus, and Elirio Malaria, three friends who love working with cars and dream of having their own garage shop. One day they see an opportunity to achieve their goal—a car competition where the prize is a “carload of cash and a solid gold steering wheel.” When they start working on a lowrider to prepare it for the competition, an out-of-this world journey begins. Through anthropomorphic characters, the author narrates a tale of friendship, teamwork, and the passion for lowriding. She incorporates astronomy to this adventure, providing readers the opportunity to familiarize with terms from both worlds. Raúl the Third’s colored pencil-and-marker illustrations effectively depict images from the lowriding subculture, while including references from Mexican pop culture, such as the iconic comedian Cantiflas and Chespirito’s El Chavo del Ocho. The way he alternates among full-page artwork, spreads, and non-rectangular panels works well with the story and strongly supports its visual understanding. However, although it is true that some Latinos code-switch in their conversation, the use of Spanish words didn’t feel organic to the story. There is also inconsistency in the use of accents, and footnotes that point readers to phrases and word meanings are explained as “nonsense words in Spanish,” when that’s not necessarily the case. Lowriders in Space fills a gap of Latino graphic novels for kids, and its quirky characters and illustrations have the potential to engage children. Let’s hope that future installments will have a more accurate and natural use of Spanish. A helpful glossary of astronomy and lowriding terms is appended.—Sujei Lugo, Somerville Public Library, MA
To win a competition, animal friends Lupe Impala, Elirio Malaria, and Flapjack Octopus build a rocket-powered lowrider out of space materials collected as they drive through the galaxy. The unique ballpoint-pen illustrations explode with energy as the hip, witty text drops occasional Spanish slang. An afterword explaining the history of lowrider cars puts the graphic novel into cultural context. Glos.
Utterly unique and full of energy, this graphic novel incorporates Spanish phrases, memorable characters, and outer space into a fast-paced tale-“y hay un monton de carros!”(And there’s a ton of cars!) Readers will enjoy the way Lupe Impala, Flapjack Octopus, and Elirio Malaria support one another in their attempts to earn money with which to open their own garage. Raul the Third’s dynamic illustrations convey a sense of motion and speed. Inspired in part by ballpoint pen-detailed fan art found in issues of Lowrider magazine, they are likely to inspire students to create their own drawings. Spanish expressions are helpfully translated at the bottom of the page on which they are used and also included in a glossary alongside astronomy terms and car vocabulary.

Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love fixing up cars together, but they are tired of working for tough old el jefe, so when they see an ad for a universal car competition—including a category for ranflas (lowriders), their favorite kind of car—they get busy fixing up the hunk of junk in their yard so they can win the contest and open their own garage. It’s slow going until they stumble on some old plane-engine parts, and then things really start flying when, ¡que chido!, their rocket-powered car zips into space for a stellar detailing job. Raúl’s snazzy panels—impressively drawn in only red, blue, and black ballpoint pen on tea-stained paper—resemble an amped-up Mighty Mouse cartoon rendered in anarchic yet skillful doodles. It’s a joyfully explosive style, and it perfectly matches the Latino characters and barrio setting. Camper sprinkles Spanish slang throughout (all defined in a glossary at the end) and closes with a note about the development of lowriders by Mexican Americans in Southern California after WWII. ¡Estellar!