“What are you doing, Andy?”

From Jeffrey Brown’s Lucy & Andy Neanderthal.

As kids growing up in the Stone Age, siblings Lucy and Andy are surrounded by dangerous animals, situations, and discoveries that make up normal life. Lucy and Andy share a cave with their parents, baby brother Danny, the elderly Mr. Daryl, the annoying Phil, and the always-annoyed-by-Andy Margaret. While the intelligent Lucy is always looking for ways to make life easier and better, Andy is desperate to join the upcoming mammoth hunt even though everyone keeps telling him that he’s too young. When the day of the big hunt arrives and Margaret is distracted with Danny, Lucy sneaks her brother away so he can at least watch the hunt, but the violent hunt proves to be more than Andy can stomach. Realizing that hunting mammoths isn’t really his thing, Andy begins looking for other ways to catch Margaret’s attention… even if that’s the last thing she seems to want. Life in the Stone Age can be difficult, especially for young neanderthals that are trying to keep their hunt-watching trip a secret, avoiding fights with Phil, finding Danny when he wanders away, and so much more craziness takes place.

This graphic novel is full of quick chapters that easily create a full world for the fun characters to explore. While the scientific interjections offer interesting information, they do throw off the pacing of the story a bit. The illustration style is not refined and the story isn’t overly complex, but young readers will find Lucy & Andy Neanderthal a laugh-filled read that’s impossible to put down.