Book Review - 'The Pumpkin Princess and the Forever Night' by Steven Banbury

Spoilers ahead:

'The Pumpkin Princess and the Forever Night'

I should have adored this.

By the wonder of its title and premise.

And I really liked it at first. 'The Pumpkin Princess' is a well written, addictive and funny children's book, and it encompasses and loves all things Halloween. So rich, creative, cosy and spooky. For the most part, it reaches its potential.

It is like 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' meets 'Halloweentown' meets 'Skulduggery Pleasant'.

The plot is that a big supernatural, overlord-type being, the pumpkin-headed Pumpkin King, finds and adopts an orphan girl, nameless to the reader until she is renamed Eve by the Pumpkin King on the spot, as she is escaping her orphanage for about the fourth time, and he takes her to his Halloween realm of Hallowell Valley, to his farm of servant scarecrows, pumpkins, trees and other produce.

Young Eve is suddenly the Pumpkin Princess, and the Pumpkin King her father.

As happy as she is to have finally left the dreaded orphanage behind her, where she was always alone, she'll have to get used to living in an entirely new world of the undead; trolls, vampires, werewolves, witches, skeletons, mummies, ghosts, stone gargoyles, banshees, candle-waxy sootlings, the lot. They come out at night and sleep during the day.

Eve is the only living to ever set foot in Hallowell Valley, and she will need to prove herself to the locals to avoid banishment by prejudiced vampire aristocrats and other monsters for being different - and to avoid being eaten, whichever comes first.

In a lot of ways, 'The Pumpkin Princess' is the perfect cosy fantasy read for all ages. We follow Eve as she learns about and takes part in farming, and harvest festivals, and sees the rest of Hallowell Valley, but mainly the village of Hallowell Station. I love that she loves books and reading - the local bookshop is her favourite haunt (pun intended).

This Pumpkin Princess isn't fearless - she merely refuses to show or feel any fear. She's been suppressing so much, and she clearly has anxiety and abandonment issues from growing up in the orphanage. She used to have nigh terrors, which she'd been made to be ashamed of, and to believe they are the reason she is "broken" and thus unadoptable. So she forced the terrors to be gone one day in an unhealthy mental and emotional exertion. This "fearlessness" sometimes leads to recklessness, that can be mistaken for bravery.

Eve spent her childhood carrying the lowest self-esteem, leading to possessing the lowest self-confidence and self-preservation skills, and the fear of rejection for being "broken", and of not belonging anywhere, in a real home. So she doesn't know how to process having a family; a family that is present and loves her unconditionally, much less think of the Pumpkin King as her dad. But she'll do whatever it takes to stay in Hallowell Valley.

It's good, character-building stuff, with helpful and important lessons about fear for children to take away from. I especially love this line, 'Eve could feel the fear in her bones even now, just as she had as a child. It was constant, unable to be chased away, like a monster had taken up residence in her stomach, then built a vacation home in her brain.' (page 255) (Scariest thing in the book is how well that describes my own anxiety.)

Like I said as well: 'The Pumpkin Princess' loves Halloween. It is Halloween. With that and its complex female protagonist - with a grumpy, grunting, grumbling pumpkin-headed man with a heart of gold for a dad - it should have been the Halloween book for me. I want to live in a world like Hallowell Valley! And read all the books I want!

Sadly, like pretty much every disappointing read for me, now that I think about it, the actual disappointment begins near the ending of the book, where it all goes downhill (down the pumpkin patch hill... I'll shut up now). Because it is rushed (the "twist villain" reveal and the subsequent climax and resolution all happen less than forty pages from the end), and because - now I shall disclose the big spoilers, as it pertains to emphasising my point - we have yet another case in modern media, in 2024, where the witches are the villains. Where old witches, old crones, are the villains. Where entire covens are villainised, and end up ostracised at the end, and this is seen as a victory.

It isn't until over halfway into 'The Pumpkin Princess' that the real plot begins. Where urgency, a mystery, unfolds (unless you count Eve accusing werewolves of conspiring to overthrow the Pumpkin King, and no one listening to her, which turns out to be for the best as it is a red herring and misunderstanding on her part), and an evil plan is revealed, to rule over Hallowell Valley by literally chaining the moon and making the sun never rise again. This resolves itself the next night, and it happens again very briefly at the rushed climax. The 'Forever Night' in the novel's title is barely present, or even relevant.

Big surprise, it's a spell by a coven of witches, lead by Mother Morrigan, a councillor who was previously presented as nothing but grandmotherly to Eve, soft and flustered, concerned and worried for the child and for the Valley. As soon as her treachery is unveiled, she morphs into a different character - a conniving, bloodthirsty, cackling caricature. Mother Morrigan refuses to let witches progress and be modern, like the younger generation wants, and wants to go back to the old ways of evil witches forming covens, and being feared and powerful and dominating over everything.

Sweet Lilith and Hecate, it's like 'Rewitched' all over again!

Way to reinforce the stereotype of witch elders being evil spawns (and slaves, or whores, whatever historical context/ pious propaganda you want to apply) of Satan, too. Speaking of real life history, elderly "witches" were never evil; they were simply women who were midwives, medicinal healers, pagans attuned to nature and such, who were dehumanised, prosecuted and executed by rising patriarchal religious groups who feared and hated them.

Covens of women are, and always have been, about community, protection, love and never harming anyone. But 'The Pumpkin Princess', in a predictable and trite "twist", says screw that, covens of witches are actually outdated, ancient and stuffy, and they are filled with old, ugly, cackling, evil women who refuse change, so the very concept of covens, of women getting together to share things like stories and ways to help people, should be banned; they should be disbanded. Now that's progress!

All this is to say: Authors, stop vilifying witches (who are not scary, undead monsters, but human beings), and older witches at that, please. Stop vilifying older women. Stop vilifying women in positions of power and authority, period.

Women are not monsters. Bugger off.

To add insult to injury, it turns out that the initial antagonist of 'The Pumpkin Princess', Baroness La'Ment, a vampire aristocrat, tyrant and councillor who has had it in for Eve since her first appearance and is Eve's main bigoted obstacle, along with her spoiled teenage twin daughters, is indeed as evil as Mother Morrigan. They are working together to enact the forever night for self-serving reasons, and for the Baroness to drain Eve of her blood. Of course. You can't have enough bad, scary, power-hungry, bloodthirsty (sometimes literally), strongminded, capable and wealthy women in fiction, right?!

Women who are anywhere close to being described as "ruthless" are monsters to be slain, but in men, this is seen as normal, acceptable and expected!

To be fair, not all older women in 'The Pumpkin Princess' are tyrannical dictators. There's Seline the witch bookshop owner, Ellie the skeleton seamstress, Celia Shroud the ghost author (ghostwriter, heh, clever), the doctor On'Jure, and her assistant Annabelle. However, these are minor, unassuming characters. And there are no male antagonists, as far from saints as a few of them are. They are no threat to Eve or the Hallowell Valley society. Unlike the women in positions of power and authority.

*sigh*

There's one female werewolf mentioned - only one, and she's nameless.

*sigh*

Other flaws include:

While it is part of her character flaw she needs to work on, Eve's recklessness and imperviousness to risks and danger make her a terrible, pushy friend. In Hallowell Station, she befriends Vlad, a tubby vampire boy who longs for a more substantial diet than just blood on its own (he'll be a great chef, I'm sure, admittedly thanks to Eve finding a vampiric cookbook for him in the bookshop), and he's an inventor. Vlad is also Baroness La'Ment's nephew whom she and her daughters abuse (he is the only living (in a manner of speaking) male in his family, abused by all the females, *sigh*). Eve's other friend, to complete the children's fantasy book trio, is Lyla, Seline's daughter and a clumsy witch, who could potentially be a serial killer by the way she talks and acts like a sociopath (BTW, Mother Morrigan is her "greatest-grandmother", and she and her mother have no reaction to the overall impact of her treachery, and the "old-fashioned" covens disbanding).

Anyway, Eve pushes Vlad and Lyla into dangerous situations, often by coercing, guilt-tripping and scaring them. She's never properly called out for this, nor does she properly apologise to her friends for nearly getting them killed more than once without a thought.

Eve learns nothing from her mistakes regarding endangering the first friends she's had in her life, as she goes right back to pushing them into mad and deadly situations towards the book's climax.

Eve is not always thoughtless and inconsiderate. At one point, she sneaks out of the Pumpkin King's farm to embark on a dangerous operation with Vlad and Lyla, which she knows will upset a scarecrow servant, who she named Scrags, if he discovers her missing. She thinks to make it up to him later. But then this is never brought up again.

The Pumpkin Princess is not the only bad friend, though. Throughout all of Lyla's inept spellcasting and unfiltered dialogue, to me her worst moment is near the end, where her apparently sentient broom is overburdened by too much weight - the weight of the heroic child trio and Vlad's destructive gadgets - and is left exhausted, and the little stick understandably rolls away from Lyla. Her reaction? She calls it "rude", and has the gall to be "offended". In the final pages, specifically page 314, it's mentioned that Lyla's broom "was thankfully starting to forgive her." No elaboration. That's it.

I can't believe a book has made me feel sorry for a broom that no one in the book itself cares about.

Eve helps to bring Christmas to Hallowell Valley. I find it hard to believe that none of the undead residents, not even the Pumpkin King, who is older than the Valley's existence and has been to the living world loads of times, have never heard of Christmas. It's explained once that many of the undead came from the living world when they were alive; how do they not know of Christmas? Do their memories of being alive fade? Did even the Pumpkin King think that Halloween was the only holiday that exists in the land of the living?

The Pumpkin King is the oldest resident of Hallowell Valley. Older than the concept of time itself, presumably. So why has he only now, at this All Hallows Eve (hence Eve's new name), decided to adopt and bring back home a living person? A child? Apparently Eve is the only living to ever exist in Hallowell Valley. Is she really that special? Why does he think he needs an heir? Or is he just lonely? He was totally unprepared for fatherhood, so I don't know. What exactly is the Pumpkin King's motivation to make a living child his Pumpkin Princess?

How are the witches, and other "monsters", considered undead? It is said they are, in fact, alive, though not by much. They are half-dead? All the undead can apparently breed, too. How long do they live, or, er, exist? Are they immortal? Unless they are killed - like, made dead-dead - by force, or their respective weaknesses? How do they age? How do the undead work in this world? It's vague and unclear.

One vital part of the Halloween aesthetic is missing: where are the Frankenstein's monsters and mad scientists in this world? Seems like a wasted opportunity to me.

Well, that's it. My review of 'The Pumpkin Princess and the Forever Night', yet another fantasy book of 2024 I should have loved. That is witchy and just right and ripe for the Halloween season.

Despite its flaws, I would recommend it, if, unlike me, you can overlook its worldbuilding holes, plot holes, and unfortunate implications in its villain reveals. Maybe I am an overly nitpicky adult? It is nowhere near as crushingly, jaw-droppingly disappointing as 'Rewitched', and it is one of the better children's books I've read recently. On the cover, New York Times bestselling author Chuck Wendig called it "Spooky and sweet.", and that's a fitting descriptor.

It is on the whole a charming, cosy read. But I'm sorry, I can't discount its problematic elements.

That's my opinion.

Thus concludes Artemis Crescent's final Halloween book review of 2024.

Happy (late) Halloween, everyone.

Final Score: 3/5

Book Review - 'All Four Quarters of the Moon' by Shirley Marr

'All Four Quarters of the Moon' is such a lovely and touching middle grade book.

It's about Chinese culture, traditions, and changes in obligations (concerning gender roles) as each generation progresses. There are mooncakes and mooncake-making, but not much of it. It's mainly about family - sisterhood, parents and grandparents, and about friendship, the unceasing imagination and creativity in childhood (that must never be outgrown and forgotten about), how art is never a waste of time, storytelling throughout the ages, introspections, and the bonds we form that transcend countries and cultures from all over the globe.

We are all human, we are all children of the earth.

'All Four Quarters of the Moon' by Shirley Marr is a coming-of-age story, that touches on finding yourself as you grow up and adapt to scary changes.

Anyone at any age reading this will find it helpful in healing their anxiety and depression.

No one is alone in the world, or the universe.

Eleven-year-old Peijing Guo and her five-year-old little sister Biju are adorable, realistic girls. They are beautiful, creative, and whole; full of wonder like the moon. Throughout reading I wished for the best for these out-of-place, overwhelmed and overburdened children as they move with their parents and grandmother from Singapore to Australia because of their father's new job. Peijing is especially pressured by her mother to grow up too fast as the older sister; to be a good example to the impolite, ill-mannered and rebellious Biju. But both girls are great as they are, as the mother will hopefully come to appreciate.

The entire book is a magical slice-of-life - a slice of mooncake--no, a slice of childhood. It helped me remember what it was like to be a kid, to retain innocence despite whatever happened around me; despite the mistakes of adults. I remember making things like Peijing and Biju's Little World!

It's also a real, complex, loving sister story. I rooted for the two equally.

'All Four Quarters of the Moon' deserves praise for its racial diversity, and, more meaningful and truthful of our reality still, for showcasing that no matter what race you are, our capitalist society will hate you if you are poor. It loathes poor people. This is represented through Joanna, Peijing's new friend from school in Australia, who is white, blonde and blue-eyed, but is impoverished (and from an abusive household, which thankfully she is saved from by the end of the novel), so she is ostracised by the rest of her classmates. How wonderful that Joanna has Peijing (plus little Biju) now, and their magic hollow tree they retreat into as their sanctuary.

No matter the harshness of the world, of events outside your control, books like 'All Four Quarters of the Moon' remind you there is hope, love, tenderness, gentleness, and comfort to be found. And sparks. And stars and the moon. I feel warm, dreamy, faithful, tranquil and happy thinking about it.

The book also teaches you that your family may surprise you by how complex and complicated they truly are, and they do love you unconditionally, though sadly that is not always the case.

Friendships can be unexpected life occurrences, as well.

I adore the storytelling portions before each chapter. It's where the sisters' bond is strongest and most innocent, as Biju tells her own versions of Chinese legends and folktales to Peijing. She is so sharp for a five-year-old!

I cannot recommend 'All Four Quarters of the Moon' highly enough. There may not be much about the moon and mooncakes here, plus there is a little paper Jade Rabbit of the Moon that is important to Biju that then disappears at some point near the end and isn't mentioned again. But there are young sisters, childhood, family connections and understanding, friendships and how to make them last, and stories. All within this beautiful, precious, heartwarming, emotional story.

Hope and love exist within books like it.

Not bad considering I almost quit on the second page when it pulled the "released the breath [I/she] didn't know [I/she] was holding" dealbreaker cliché.

Read it, and other magical, touching, worldly, educational, life-changing children's books like 'Safiyyah's War' and 'A Greyhound of a Girl', and the picture books 'Eyes that Kiss in the Corners', 'Suki's Kimono' and 'A Big Mooncake for Little Star' for good measure.

For measuring a big mooncake, to share with family and friends.

Final Score: 4/5

Manga Review - 'Zodiac P.I., Vol. 1' by Natsumi Ando

'Zodiac P.I.'

Oh, wow.

I'd heard of this probably since I started to become aware of the existence of manga. But for some reason I'd never bothered to check it out until now. It had occurred to me that since I love Natsumi Ando's other series, 'Kitchen Princess', well, why not see what her other work is like?

'Zodiac P.I.' is an earlier manga series of hers. Judging from the first volume, it is, without a doubt, the stupidest, silliest manga I have ever read, that I ended up liking anyway. The plots, the mysteries, make almost no sense, and neither do the motivations and resolutions. There are plot holes and unexplained details galore, and there are as many OTT shōjo manga caricatures and cliches as you'd expect from the early 2000s. It's kind of a mess.

But it's an entertaining mess. There's action and drama. There's murder and blood in this all-ages shōjo manga! The main character, Riri Hoshizawa, is a magical girl who is a detective. Or, she's a detective who transforms into a magical girl for no logical reason other than to have thrilling climaxes to the cases she solves, as she confronts the murderer. She needs horoscopes, magical astrology and divine intervention - from mini goddesses representing the twelve signs of the zodiac, who give the magical girl clues based on the murder victim's star sign and horoscope from the day they died... the premise is absolutely bonkers and so early 2000s and I love it - to help her solve the murders. But she has innate skills of her own that aid her, too.

Riri's love interest is Hiromi Oikawa, a wannabe detective and former childhood friend, who of course has black hair and looks like every handsome, darkhaired male love interest in every shōjo manga ever. Hiromi is the Tuxedo Mask to Riri's Sailor Moon, and he's not half bad. He's a cute moody boy who wants to prove himself, though he breaks out in hives whenever he touches a girl - he literally says he's allergic to women, which, what? What's that about? He's acts as the straight man to the heroine's outgoing, energetic, cheeky personality.

And I think, more than its murder mystery subgenre with the bizarre astrological element to its magical girl angle, that's what makes 'Zodiac P.I.' stand out from other shōjo titles: its heroine, Riri Hoshizawa, aka Spica, her magical girl private investigator identity.

Riri is not your typical meek, helpless, delicate, demure, clumsy, flustered, people-pleasing shōjo manga and anime protagonist who always needs males to protect her and solve all her problems. She's rambunctious, rude, thoughtless, impulsive, and quite egotistical and smug. She's a junior high school fortune teller, astrologer, and P.I., who doesn't always have the most selfless and altruistic motives (mainly she wants to find her missing mother, who was also a Spica). But she's determined to the core. She won't let anything get in her way. She delivers mean high kicks to boot, managing to keep her modesty while wearing skirts. Riri is rather unique, and therefore admirable, for heroines of her ilk at the time this manga came out.

Plus she wears fabulous outfits and fashions (she's all about the skirts!), when she's in disguise and as Spica... whose outfit looks like regular clothing, hardly resembling a magical girl, but whatever, she clearly knows what she likes.

Another positive: There's a plus-sized girl, Akina Nakamura, in one story, which is very rare in anything to do with manga and anime. At no point is her weight brought up, and she isn't treated like a joke. It's a shame she runs off scared before the murder victim is even discovered, and is never seen again.

Another positive: Another rarity: The art contains a few small moments of varying facial expressions which you don't typically see in shōjo manga, like when Riri lifts one eyebrow and squints one eye when facing the sun's glare, and in an inquisitive look. I was a bit shocked when I saw that dedicated attention to detail. It's small but noteworthy for its genre's art conventions.

Another negative: The English translation from the out-of-print copy I managed to get online. It's pretty bad. Names are mixed up infrequently (did no one proofread this?), and I'm sure I missed crucial details in the dialogue and Riri's internal monologues in the manga's murder mystery stories. I'm sure it makes more sense in the original Japanese. Also Riri is called Lili, except for one instance in the mini story at the end, where she is suddenly Riri (oops! The translation can't even stay consistent). I'm positive the rename is wrong, as she has 'Riri' written literally all over her shirt on the bloody cover of the manga!

'Zodiac P.I.' needs to get back to print with a retranslation in English; our standards are much higher now.

But for now, for a good laugh, good action, and a good slow-burning romance between cute, spirited leads, involving fun banter and mutual hijinks, and a turning-your-brain-off reprieve, I'd say, yeah, go ahead, seek out 'Zodiac P.I.'. Though it would take deep detective work to find an acceptable, cheap copy nowadays. I'd recommend it to magical fans, too. I mean, how many magical girl homicide P.I.s can you name? And with Riri's confident, charismatic and infectious character?

I know I would have been into it as a teen reading manga for the first time, as I was obsessed with magical girls and horoscopes and star signs way back when.

'Zodiac P.I., Vol. 1' is my biggest guilty pleasure of the year, and a unique oddity I have to keep and preserve. It's the sort of charming, earnestly presented, early 2000s nostalgic stupidity I need at this moment.

Thank you once again, Natsumi Ando-san.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Manga Review - 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Magic Within, Vol. 1' by Tania del Rio (Writer, Penciller, Letterer), Jim Amash (Inker), Jeff Powell (Letterer)

I've finally given 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Magic Within, Vol. 1' by Tania del Rio a go.

It's as much a zany, kinda shallow, high school love triangle drama fest, mid-2000s manga-wannabe from America as I expected. Yet it is still very much like the Archie comics, structurally and thematically. Romance, and the love-triangle-turned-love-square, are at the forefront of every issue/chapter, but there is more to it than that, and it isn't as simple and straightforward as you might think. It isn't too annoying or twee. Sabrina is still Sabrina - a selfish, self-absorbed, moody, hormonal yet charming teen - as are the other characters (Salem is a hoot as always, and he is a cute little manga mascot here).

It is strangely endearing. Reading 'The Magic Within' made me feel like a kid from the 2000s again, watching western cartoons and anime. It is superbly magical - Sabrina almost spends as much time casting spells as she does obsessing over boys, almost being the magic keyword - and busy, so busy that practically every page is crowded with a lot of panels, and a lot going on. But it flows pretty well, and I liked following these characters down the choppy yet overall steady and easygoing river that is this manga.

My favourite chapter has to be the second one, 'Blue Ribbon Blues', where Sabrina, her best friend Llandra, and her second love interest Shinji (her first is Harvey, as if it needed to be asked) do a broom-making test and challenge at their Charm School. There's a deep, dark forest, a moon, a kitsune forest sprite, a giant tarantula, and it's about Sabrina learning lessons and thinking with her head, and it's the only story present where she rides a broom! A special broom she went through danger to make! It will cut back to and parallel Harvey's basketball game in the mortal realm, which Sabrina doesn't want to miss. It's magical, otherworldly, funny, charming, and sweet.

There's enough depth in 'The Magic Within' that it doesn't come across as too gimmicky for its time. Harvey and Shinji even save each other and bond in the sixth chapter, 'Cabin Fever', despite their affections for Sabrina and the mutual jealousy that springs from that. The eight chapter, 'Caught on Tape', is another favourite of mine; so enchanting and foreboding, with foreshadowing of more serious, plot related things to come. It's lovely to see Sabrina and Aunt Hilda bond, as well. In fact, the two share a lot of special, touching family moments together.

The manga is just a fun, witch drama and soap opera.

Besides Harvey, there is another non-witch character, Gwen, who first appears in the fourth chapter, actually called 'The Magic Within' (which is also the comic's exclusively Halloween-themed issue). I really like her. She knows about Sabrina's magical secret, and is plus-sized, which is a rarity worthy of the highest esteem. But I wish she could have appeared more. She slowly disappears near the end.

It's a shame. Sabrina needs more female friends who aren't romantic rivals. Speaking of, the mean girl Amy ends up being pointless, doesn't she? Judging from 'Blue Ribbon Blues', I'd thought she and Sabrina would become friends afterwards (another reason to adore that issue). Whatever they shared there goes absolutely nowhere.

The tenth and final issue of the volume, 'Model Behavior', stars Josie and the Pussycats - hooray! And it's where Shinji's love-hate jerkish personality reaches a meaningful, developmental point; the beginnings of why he is the way he is. The shallow, impulsive, irresponsible pretty warlock boy is, in fact, a tragic figure...

'Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Magic Within, Vol. 1' - a fun, hilarious, and bewitch-y guilty pleasure Archie manga. I'd recommend it to 'Sabrina' fans, sure.

For more 'Sabrina' content, read my review of 'Sabrina The Teen-Age Witch: 60 Magical Stories', which furthermore contains links to my other 'Sabrina' reviews.

(I find it odd that the 'Sabrina' manga issues included in 'Sabrina The Teen-Age Witch: 60 Magical Stories' are in colour, but in the volumes they originated from they are in black and white, befitting the manga style.)

I may like every version of Sabrina Spellman, the Teenage Witch, that exists. Well, except for the majority of 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' (both the comic and TV series) and her early Archie Comics appearances, and the whole of 'Sabrina's Secret Life' (screw that abomination of a cartoon). She manages to be likeable, and relatable, everywhere. One of the most iconic female characters in the pop culture sphere.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Book Review - 'Witch in Training' by Michelle Robinson (Writer), Briony May Smith (Illustrator)

'Witch in Training' is my kind of picture book, my kindred spirit - it's spectacularly witchy, it's all about Halloween and autumn, it's about a positive mother-and-daughter relationship, it's sweet and cute and kindhearted, there are spooky and funny vibes, there are images that straight up remind me of 'Kiki's Delivery Service', it has a cat familiar named Pumpkin Patch, and it contains books, cottages, crescent moons, moonbeams, fairies, phoenixes, giant owls, werewolves, trolls, mummies, vampires, rats, sea monsters, and spell and potion making. It has it all, so glorious!

The main character, a little girl witch named Betty, reminds me of the witch Beetle from 'Beetle & the Hollowbones' - they even have green skin! I love her purple hair, and freckles. I love how close and supportive her mum is, too.

The book is also soothingly, ethereally told in rhyme, and the art is fantastic and wonderful.

Keep wishing for the best for the 'Witch in Training'!

One of the best witchy picture books I've read.

In addition to 'Kiki's Delivery Service' and 'Beetle & the Hollowbones', read this if you like 'Once Upon a Witch's Broom', 'Sunday The Sea Witch', 'A Spoonful of Frogs', 'The Worst Witch', 'Little Witch', 'Witch Wars', 'Hellaween', 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch', and 'The Okay Witch'.

(In case you couldn't tell, I love all things witchy. Give me all the magic ingredients.)

Final Score: 4/5

Book Review - 'I Am Sally (Disney's Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas)' by Nicole Johnson (Writer), Jeannette Arroyo (Illustrator), Disney Storybook Art Team

For my 1001st review, let's talk about a tiny Little Golden Book about Sally from 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'!

It is the movie told from Sally the ragdoll's point of view. It is as simple as that. But Sally is one of my favourite Disney heroines, not to mention one of my favourite Halloween icons, so I had to check it out.

Besides, it seems fitting that I review something about both Halloween and Christmas in the middle of November. I'm in-between the two holidays! After Samhain and towards Yuletide! What an occasion!

'I Am Sally' is sweet and cute. The art is lovely, capturing a 2-D, shadowy and shady feel of the film. Oddly, it presents Sally and Jack as more friends than lovers - it doesn't end with them together, kissing on that iconic Tim Burton hill, but Sally sitting alone on said hill, picking a flower in front of a giant full moon, before Jack is supposed to arrive. From a feminist perspective, it conveys a nice message about independence and freedom, yet in this case I wouldn't have minded a love story, as Jack and Sally are also one of my favourite Disney couples.

'I Am Sally' - spooky, precious and feminist. Ultimately, it is a story of a woman, insecure but stronger than she realises, who escapes from her stifling, abusive household, and learns more about herself and what she's capable of based on her surroundings and circumstances, and takes action from there.


'I am Sally, and I am more than just someone's doll. I have my own dreams, and now I can experience them all!'


Read also:

'Long Live the Pumpkin Queen'

and

'I Am She-Ra!'

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Navigating With You' by Jeremy Whitley (Writer), Cassio Ribeiro (Artist), Nikki Foxrobot (Letterer), Micah Myers (Letterer)

Artemis Crescent's 1000th review.

For such a momentous, astronomical, moonstone milestone, and such a beautiful and fabulous feat, I've decided that 'Navigating With You' by Jeremy Whitley and Cassio Ribeiro would be perfect for this occasion.

Because it's a graphic novel that nearly has it all for me: it is about a blooming, well developed LBGTQ+ love between two POC girls; it's about finding and reading manga; it's diverse and geeky as all the constellations seen in the night sky; it deals with serious issues such as trauma, mental illness, disabilities, and abusive relationships; its art is fantastic and the settings are gorgeous - you really feel like you're there with the amazing girl duo; and mostly, it is about life and living it. It is not singularly slice-of-life, it's the whole cake. It is not coming-of-age as much as it is growing and healing into it.

It is about hope - hope for the little things that can turn into big, life changing things, and a hope that, despite everything, despite how unbelievably horrible things are right now, it will get better.

Reading 'Navigating With You' gave me a profound sense of love and hope in all the messiness - the messiness of being human in a crazy world, where anything can happen.

And all the goddesses know that we all need every scrap of hope we can find right now in this fucked up world of ours. When every sense of right and wrong, of good winning and evil being punished, of knowing what's moral and ethic, of what is basic common sense, that we have been taught and have believed in our whole lives - not to mention believing wholeheartedly that there is some good in everyone, that true evil can't possibly exist in humans, and that there exists some justice - have been systematically destroyed, and we are left feeling utterly confused, devastated and enraged beyond comprehension - when real life no longer makes sense - sometimes a fictional yet more realistic story like 'Navigating With You' can ground you and give you peace of mind and an almost quiet understanding. And the tools to, well, navigate it all, safely, securely and sanely.

When something as creative, diverse and hopeful as 'Navigating With You' can be allowed to be published as it is, it reminds you that no matter what happens, there are still good people in the world. People who have no problem imagining a better, brighter, happier world, for others to believe in, and therefore strive for.

No matter what. No matter how long it takes.

'Navigating With You' is about Neesha Sparks, a disabled Black girl activist and costume designer, who wears braces on her legs and is reluctant to use a wheelchair, and is originally from New York, and is new at a high school in Durham, North Carolina; as is Gabby Graciana, an Hispanic surfer girl from Florida, who immediately tries to befriend the stoic Neesha. Neesha is a lesbian, and Gabby is bisexual. Neesha has physical disabilities, and Gabby has internal, mental issues such as low self-esteem, depression and PTSD.

Anyway, Neesha finds out that Gabby has a geeky side, and loves a classic manga series, 'Super Navigator Nozomi', which she was a fan of too, but now her manga collection is lost. Gabby doesn't have the manga anymore either. Neither girl ever finished the series, which is out of print!

So it becomes their goal, their mission, their book club bond, their journey, to find all seven volumes of 'Super Navigator Nozomi' wherever they find them - like in a library sale, a church thrift store, a yard sale, a magic bus bookshop, anywhere in the North Carolina state. It begins as a competition to see who can find and read each volume first.

Along the way, the girls' romance develops, and it parallels how 'Super Navigator Nozomi' progresses as well in its development, in surprising twists and turns (that are not just about its spaceship racing premise).

It's messy, tragic, with plenty of ups and downs, yet beautiful, deliriously and deliciously funny, and full of emotional conflicts and struggles. It's a beautifully imperfect graphic novel.

It is about life, and navigating it in a healthy way. It's enough to make you tear up and sob by the end of the life-altering, life-affirming journey. Of two geek girls in love who have to face reality - to come out the other side feeling fulfilled and whole again, together and as individuals.

That's the gist of 'Navigating With You'.

(The plot kind of reminds me of a better version of 'How to Repair a Mechanical Heart' by J.C. Lillis.)

After all that, I feel I have to take a moment to gush about my favourite character, Gabby Graciana.

She reminds me of Irma Lair from 'W.I.T.C.H.' and a female Luffy from 'One Piece' (and seeing as the comic does reference 'One Piece' occasionally, I'm sure this was intentional). (Hey, and she's like Bedelia from Jeremy Whitley's 'Princeless' series. Hmm.) This girl who exudes energy, cheerfulness, optimism and perseverance like she came out of a manga herself, but is hurting dreadfully on the inside. She is not as "cute" as she first appears. Gabby can't escape her tragic past, and she is always pressured - by herself, her family, her teachers, and her colossal dick of a boyfriend - to do everything right. To be perfect, when she is struggling with burdens no one her age should. She hides it under a chipper, can-do attitude and naïve façade, but soon, when she is with Neesha, who will come to like her for who she is - to love every part of her - Gabby peels off her mask and starts to cry. A lot. The tears she's been holding inside her pour out to the surface, and it is a relief.

The courage to show one another's vulnerabilities is sign of love and acceptance and shared experiences. Gabby, rising above the rest of her, is a beach girl who loves surfing, and wearing the dresses - yard sale oldies and cosplay - Neesha makes for her.

Neither Gabby nor Neesha are each other's Manic Pixie Dream Girl. They are far too complex for that. And they both have close-knit, supportive families (though Neesha has a distant divorcé dad), who are 100% aware and involved in their lives.

They are one of the best queer couples I've seen in comics.

Both have been in bad relationships in the past, too. Neesha has had girls who didn't understand or accept her disability and the discriminations she faces, and who used it to take advantage of her for their own gains. To treat her like a prop. Gabby had a summer fling with a girl, and for over half the comic she's with a toxic monster of a boyfriend (who thankfully we only see through their phone calls and texts). He is every red flag in the book and out the book towards the stratosphere. He crosses so many lines there is a special place in hell reserved for him. Seriously, fuck that guy. Fuck him for his words, his ignorance, his closemindedness, his selfishness, his possessiveness, his nastiness, his black hole level thoughtlessness, everything. Fuck him for treating Gabby like he does; for hurting her. Fuck him for damaging her almost beyond repair. I'm glad we don't spend much time with that fucknut. He deserves nothing. Not even me remembering his name.

Well, to add a bit of lightheartedness now, 'Navigating With You' contains practically every geek/otaku's dream - not only manga, but cosplays, cons, figurines, weird novelty items, and pop culture easter eggs (there're 'Sailor Moon' and 'Borderlands' references). Alongside abusive relationships, it talks about consent, PTSD triggers and episodes, sexist school dress codes, colonialism and confederacy and slave owners, and which Muppet the girls think is kind of sexy. Wholesome stuff.

An additional note: Neesha's mum is the best.

PHEW! There you have it: my 1000th review, transcending over 1500 words.

It's such a relief and catharsis to read and then write about 'Navigating With You'. I need it and other books like it at this moment; the inexplicably darkest in human history. We will always need and deserve diverse books and other media.

My geek girl, manga-binging side also appreciates it.

In darkness, there is light and hope, as long as you remember that you are not alone. Together, we are strong. We are unbeatable in anything.

We will get through this. Death and violence can never win. Progress is forever moving forward, and is inevitable. It's for the sake of human survival, and survival always wins out in the end.

As does love.

Heck, I've been saying these things ad nauseum since I started writing book reviews, over ten years ago.

'Navigating With You' - it mirrors my complex, cluttered, chaotic, heartfelt and lovely 1000th book review. May it represent every facet of human progress, and the fight for equality, love and peace, even if it takes a 1000 more times to reach it in reality. To navigate it accordingly.

I'll write it again: it is all around beautiful imperfection.

To quote the anime 'Kino's Journey': "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is."

Final Score: 4/5