Dynamic, evocative color and movement easily carry this allegorical fantasy wherever the text is weak.
Mel, angry at adults who never listen, is pulled into a magical world where she learns she’s the Chosen One.
Chasing her cat across the rooftop of her apartment building, the bespectacled redhead falls into a neighboring home, where a white-bearded old man is taking tea with three talking animals wearing 19th-century clothing. They’ve been waiting for her, they explain eagerly, because only she can break the curses of Malcape the Magnificent, who turned young Otto into the old man Mel sees before her. Mel’s journey past animal tea parties and magical royals has illustrations that sometimes evoke Wonderland or Oz. The text doesn’t always make clear sense in context, perhaps a result of the translation from the original Italian, and many narrative elements are dropped when they’re no longer useful for the allegory. (Whatever happens to Otto’s talking-animal friends? Why doesn’t the Book of Return, which brings the dead back to life, remain important?) But gorgeous color and action are what keep pages turning, not the quest itself. Memories are rendered in sepia or black and white while the magical land of Here&Now is richly saturated. The interplay between different color schemes, sometimes within a single panel, plays deliciously with mood. The often wordless two-page spreads cleverly evoke movement or the passage of time. Some signage and sound effects are not translated, though meaning is always clear from illustration. All human characters are White.
Dynamic, evocative color and movement easily carry this allegorical fantasy wherever the text is weak. (Graphic fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30124-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A clever, magical romp, overflowing with high drama and low humor.
In this second series entry, blue-freckled foundling Spella De-broom Cauldroneyes and friends take an exciting shopping trip to Mummy City—arriving just in time to help save the world.
Gathering up both her shy best friend, Tolden Tutters (whose dragon, Softfang, serves as his hearing aid), and the many fantastical hats of her green-skinned guardian witch, Mathilda Cauldroneyes, 8-year-old Spella leaves jolly Hungry Snout Forest for the big city. There, the disappearances of a certain very powerful old cauldron and a rising number of the city’s residents signal that trouble’s beginning to bubble. (“Toothless Toz is ten feet tall and smells of old cheese…His arm fell off in 3356 BC and was never found again, so he used a feather duster in its place.”) As it happens, Stonescare, a “frightful, mean wizard,” has recruited some scary allies for a new scheme. Readers fond of stories filled with silly names, ingenious spellcasting both helpful (a sandwich-dispensing cardigan pocket) and otherwise (screaming farts), and engaging magical creatures (booger-eating purple unicorns, tree wart trolls quaintly collecting roozle wart for their morning tea) will echo Spella’s favorite expression of delight—“toadfire!”—at the many comical twists. They’ll also appreciate the summary way the fledgling wand-wielder sends a pair of sneering bullies packing. The ending promises more adventures to come. Final art not seen.
A clever, magical romp, overflowing with high drama and low humor. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665955348
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A winner.
When a young girl’s imagination and creativity are co-opted by a mysterious new friend, she must find a way to regain what is rightfully hers.
Sandy is a brown-skinned, dark-haired girl with big black eyes and a vivid imagination. At night, as she goes to sleep, she catches the lights bobbing about in her room and turns them into anything she imagines. The next day is spent drawing the fantastical creatures from her dreams, much to the detriment of her schoolwork. When a tall, pale-skinned girl with purple hair befriends her, Sandy is excited, though there is something eerie and unsettling about her new companion. Her excitement soon turns to anger as Morfie enters her imaginative nighttime world and tries to take it over. Readers will cheer at the clever way in which Sandy regains control. Using a lovely palette that includes a liberal amount of rich, dark purple, Colombian-born Alvarez has drawn a world that harks back to her native Bogotá and days in Catholic school, evoking it in wonderful detail and atmosphere. Her pages are not crowded yet are filled with details that will engage readers. The beings that inhabit Sandy’s nighttime world are simply delightful. The album size, cloth spine binding, and spot gloss on the cover are the icing on the cake of this beautiful graphic novel.
A winner. (Graphic fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-910620-13-7
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Nobrow Ltd.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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