Vera Greentea

Nutmeg Award Nominee. Witches, a town with a mysterious past, and an older brother trying to rescue his little sister- what's not to like? The story takes place after Bucky Orson's little sister Heidi goes missing. She's an incredibly powerful witch in a town where all the women have some magical powers and the men don't. Bucky's dad is the police chief and he is limited in what he can do to search. Bucky's mom is flooding the town with rains brought about by her grief. Bucky takes matters into his own hands and becomes a detective, searching through spooky houses, forests, and even an abandoned well. He's helped by a slew of really interesting characters along the way.

Things I liked:

The artwork is phenomenal. The grayscale art with pops of color for emphasis really set the "noir" mood. The artist draws scenes so clearly and so detailed that you barely need words to understand what is happening. love that there is diversity in shape, size, and skin color of supporting characters, though everyone is drawn as attractive. The expressions on the characters' faces are perfect. You can see their emotions. The story is interesting and I want to know more about the world the author created. The town is cut off from the rest of the world, there's witchcraft, covens, an interesting history as to how the women in town got their power, and of course the mystery of the missing little sister.There is a lot of potential for exploring various relationships. There are a lot of interactions and family and friend dynamics that are briefly touched on that make you want to know more about the character's lives beyond the mystery they explore in the book.

Things I didn't like:

The story felt rushed. The author introduced a great backstory between the 2 protagonists, but it fell a little flat at the end. The author introduced a side story about a struggle with power in another family connected to the history of the town and the current mystery, but only touched on it at a surface level. There's a side plot about people wanting to leave the town, and another side story about an interesting father/daughter dynamic between one of the protagonists and her dad, and a story about upset in the police department. Like I stated earlier, I love the world and the potential for some deep stories, but it feels like the author tried to do too much in too short of a book. Perhaps she left it open for sequels.

The ending satisfied the main plot, but it was confusing and was hard to understand. I definitely think it ended too quickly.
The dialogue was not as dynamic as in other graphic novels that I've read. It felt wooden. Thankfully, the expressive artwork more than compensates for that.

Overall, I could definitely see why this would be intriguing to high school students and can see some relationship themes that would be great to discuss in a classroom. Some common themes are the older sibling as a protector which is discussed in the main plot and also in the subplot about the Turner family. I think they touch on parent/child relationships, friendships that grow apart and change as kids mature and have different interests, the desire to find out what you are going to be in the future and experience the world outside of what you are familiar with. I really enjoyed the book, it gave me a lot to think about, but it left me wanting more.… (meer)