THE RACC PACK

A family of raccoons trying to survive the winter find themselves pulling the heist of a lifetime.

On the streets of Toronto, Dusty, ReRe, and Scraps eke out a meager existence night to night, scavenging for scraps where they can get them. The mayor’s new raccoon-proof garbage bins prove no match for the trio’s brains and brawn, but food is getting harder to come by. When they discover a dumpster full of “ugly,” misshapen produce at Well Bean (a Whole Foods–like market), the Racc Pack is beyond thrilled: This is more than enough to last the winter! But Well Bean’s corrupt owner will stop at nothing to keep “vermin” out of his bins. Still, the Racc Pack won’t back down. With the help of new friends and a whole lot of determination, will the raccoons be able to pull off Mission Impawssible? Will the evil Jeff Beans and his wasteful megacorporation get their comeuppance? The social issues (food waste, humanity vs. wildlife, corporate corruption, gentrification, etc.) underpinning the heist plot are treated lightly, for the most part; the Jeff Bezos analogue, on the other hand, will be hilariously obvious—at least to adults. The comic tone and high energy are served well by the bright, busy illustrations, and if the plot itself is a bit thin, the antics, plans, and potential future heists of the roguish raccoons are more than enough fun to make up for it. Human characters are diverse; Jeff Beans is tan-skinned.

A dumpster’s worth of laughs.