Delightful.
Another year, another Kay O'Neill graphic novel. Another wonderful, gorgeous, accessible, pastel, feminine, feminist, childlike experience for all ages, featuring gay people.
A young girl named Lana, and her dad, head to the seaside to help her aunt Mae rebuild her village after a storm. Lana learns about coral reefs, cute and colourful seahorses - big and tiny - and her aunt's past with the supernatural connected to these lovely creatures, called aquicorns.
Lana is also coming to terms with her mother's death, and is rebuilding her family loveline as well as her home - on land and in the sea.
'Aquicorn Cove' is about community, family ties, grief, balance, Mother Nature and our responsibility to take care of her, appreciating and learning from the past in order to progress and prosper, and conserving the sea.
The sea = another world entirely; the giver and taker of life. A massive purity of tumultuous water, containing so many beautiful living miracles, beyond mortal comprehension. Our land needs it to survive, and vice versa.
The save-the-coral-reef-and-ocean message is a major factor in the book, and it is delivered in a sincere and heartfelt way. No patronizing or heavy-handedness. Any child reading this will be touched by it, and take it to heart.
Lana is adorable; a classic innocent, honest-to-goodness angelic, Studio Ghibli kid heroine. She deals with heartache and loss while discovering magical things in the world. Things that are worth fighting for. That are worth your happiness. Her aunt Mae is also a great character; as much the protagonist as her niece. She represents one half of O'Neill's LBGTQ content in this children's story.
Speaking of rep, there is strong POC and body-positivity diversity here. Women absolutely rule this graphic novel, to the point where Lana's dad is pretty much the only male character.
'Aquicorn Cove' - Ah! and aw! and awe. How pink! Plus it's precious, like a pearl. Like the blue and green sea.
Kay O'Neill continues their tradition of changing children's lit for the better in the 21st century, in a hopeless world. A short, simple, soft but endearing and beautifully-told and flowing tale, with no villain, made to show the wonders of life, and fantasy. Because no matter how hard and horrible things are in the world, there will always be things in it that make it worth saving.
'Aquicorn Cove' - add it to 'Princess Princess Ever After' and 'The Tea Dragon Society' in the treasure trove of O'Neill's original children's fairy tales. These need to be made into animated films.
Final Score: 4.5/5
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