Snapdragon
by Kat Leyh
First Second, 2020. 224 pages.
Review written July 17, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review
Snapdragon is a girl who all the kids at school think is weird. She lives with her mom and her dog, Good Boy. When Good Boy goes missing, she looks at the house of the old witch, who’s rumored to eat pets. She does find Good Boy, and he’s been patched up after a car hit him.
The next day some boys are playing with the body of a dead possum and trying to gross out Snapdragon. But she finds the possum’s babies and goes to the witch’s house to get help taking care of them. It turns out the witch is a lady named Jacks who harvests roadkill and ends up selling their reticulated skeletons on the internet.
Snapdragon is fascinated by that and keeps coming for help with the possum babies and learning about the skeletons, and then it turns out that Jacks really is a witch. So now it’s time to learn about magic.
That summary doesn’t begin to convey the richness of the characters in this graphic novel. Jacks is not at all a stereotypical witch anymore than Snapdragon is a stereotypical outsider kid. Challenges come up, and even though magic comes into play, it feels like the challenges are dealt with realistically.
As a graphic novel, the book is short, but I enjoyed every minute I spent reading it.
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Source: This review is based on a book from Fairfax County Public Library.
Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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