Graphic Novel Review - 'Crumble' by Meredith McClaren (Writer), Andrea Bell (Artist)

An absolutely cute and adorable kids' graphic novel, that you can read in under an hour.

The same time it takes to wait out a delicious cheesecake in the oven, in fact.

It's impressive how cute 'Crumble' is, actually, considering it is not all sunshine and baked goods and cafés and middle school (elementary school in the US) drama: it is also about grief. It is about the process of losing a family member in a sudden, tragic accident, framed in the slight magical realism element of "baking your feelings" and "eating your feelings". (Are young Emily and her family witches, or...?)

When grieving, numbness is not the same as being better. Feeling nothing is not feeling better. The pain hasn't gone away. It is still inside you, supressed, lurking in the dark, barely hiding, biding its time, waiting - for a trigger, a moment to strike, terrifyingly, again.

You can't will your bad feelings to stop. There is no quick and easy "cure". Bottling it all up inside and "releasing" it through distractions, for some reprieve, like an addiction, it not helpful. It won't make the bad - the pain, the fear - go away for good.

It's important to talk about it to loved ones, and let it all out, before it hurts you and others any further. Release the valve on the pain, fully, and share your feelings and truth around you.

That is how the crumble, well, crumbles.

That is how the raspberry tart rises and relieves.

Okay, I'll shut up.

Getting back on track:

'Crumble' reminds me of those Saturday morning cartoons from the nineties that weren't afraid to get dark and serious once in a while, without falling into cringey, insincere PSA territory. There are a lot of slice-of-life anime for much younger audiences that are like this, too; that are not afraid to tell kids the truth about life.

The graphic novel really is cute and tasty enough to eat. It contains a shortbread's sum of sugary, sweet and simple yet satiating and satisfactory substance at its center, and it isn't saccharine (try saying that sentence multiple times). It's like a dessert at a party, or a baking contest, that was made with the right amount of ingredients.

There is also lovely LBGTQ+ rep in this children's comic. Emily, the cute little, cinnamon mini roll protagonist, has a nonbinary best friend, Dae, who has two dads. Then there's this dialogue exchange between Dae and Emily: "Boyd laid some eggs." "The class bird? Mr. Granger said it was a boy." "Gender nonconformists. We're EVERYWHERE."

"My family makes feelings!" (Emily at a show-and-tell) - 'Crumble' is similar to 'The Happy Shop' in its magical realism, emotional education and processing theme. Another book to compare it to is 'The Baker and the Bard', only without the otherworldly fantasy. It is kind of like 'Kiki's Delivery Service' without the broom and the travelling, and a little like the manga, 'Kitchen Princess'.

'Crumble' is so chibi! It's creamy chibi! Chibi-tastic!

Infrequently included, and with two at the end with the authors' notes, are real recipes! I've got to try these easy-bakes.

What a wholesome, cosy, no-antagonists, heartwarming little slice-of-life-and-cake treat of a comic.

Final Score: 4/5