Misfit Mansion by Kay Davault

Reviewed By: Alice Mitchell, Youth Services Manager

Genre: Fantasy (graphic novel)

Suggested Age: Kids (7-12)

What is This Book About? Iris and her friends live in a “foster home for horrors,” including trolls, kelpies, and unicorns. She’s surrounded by friends who are all kept safe by Mr. Halloway’s rules to never leave the house, but she desperately wants to attend the local Harvest Festival in nearby Dead End Springs where “everyone is family.” When Mr. Halloway leaves to rescue a new horror, a local boy named Mathias accidentally breaks the house’s locking spell, releasing the horrors upon the town. The kids disguise themselves to explore the human world and make friends, but they don’t know that Mathias and his aunt are fierce paranormal hunters who wouldn’t mind ridding Dead End Springs of horrors for good.

My Review: This delightful book about fitting in and finding your people is sure to leave you with a smile on your face. Iris’ optimism is contagious, Kel is just the most precious gardening kelpie ever, and the rest of the horrors will make you want to move right in with them. Iris’ experiences as the only horror that Mr. Halloway was afraid of makes her stand out in a world where she was already shunned for being a horror in the first place. Davault mentions in an author’s note that this book is inspired by her experiences as an only child in a single-parent household, feeling like she doesn’t fit into the same mold as her friends and their “complete” two-parent households. She realized, as Ivy and the horrors do, that families come in all shapes and sizes. Readers will enjoy cute horrors, scary monsters, curious townsfolk, and an all-ages family drama.

Three Words that Describe this Book: hopeful, inclusive, family

Give This A Try if You Like… Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulson; The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag; The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill; The Tea Dragon Society by K. O’Neill; TV shows She-Ra and The Owl House

Rating: 5/5

Find it at the library!

Rose Wolves by Natalie Warner

Reviewed by: Alice Mitchell, Youth Services Manager

Genre: graphic novels, fantasy

Suggested Age: 4th-7th grade

What is the book about?

One day, a little girl picks an unusual flower from an unusual bush in the forest. Overnight, the flower blooms and turns into a magical creature: a rose wolf, missing a leg just like she is missing an arm. Together, the new friends must go on a journey to find where they belong. (From Amazon)

My Review:

The parallels between the little girl and the rose wolf make the story incredibly meaningful. They both begin their story a little growly and with missing limbs, and wind up finding where they belong together.

The entire concept of the rose wolf is wonderful, from the non-threatening design to the actual rose tail. I was sad to see the petals on the tail falling off and what that could possibly mean for the story, but it all worked out okay in the end.

What fantastic illustrations! I’ve seen a bunch of wordless picture books, but this is the first wordless graphic novel that I’ve read. This story has a lot of depth and doesn’t need words to get its message across.

Find it in the Youth Services Department or on the hoopla app!

Folktales for a Better World: Stories of Peace and Kindness by Elizabeth Laird, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini

Reviewed By: Chelsea Bunton, library volunteer

Genre: Folklore

Suggested Age: Children (7-10)

What is This Book About?  Folktales for a Better World is a short anthology collection of myths and folklore from seven countries who have all experienced strife due to conflict. Most of these stories hale from the Middle East, but all stories are connected by a central theme of humanitarian kindness. Through these tales, the reader can witness how a deeply human thing it is to experience forgiveness, inner peace, and gratitude. Though the stories may be old, the thematic experience is timeless and personal to us all.

My Review:  I always enjoy reading folklore from various origins. I very much enjoyed this particular set as they were stories I had never encountered before. It was very humbling to see stories like these that are rooted in such a very mortal desire for peace, yet they come from countries that we often generalize with dissension today. I think these stories are a testament to what could be in this world if we only look within for that brotherly nature we have lost to instinctually forgive and love our fellow man. 

 Three Words that Describe this Book:  Hopeful, charming, mythical

Give This A Try if You Like…Myths or other folklore, The Librarian of Basra by Jeannette Winter, One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights)  

 Find it at the library!