Kelly Fernandez

A graphic novel about a religious school for witchlings, starring Manu, an extraordinary child. A foundling from the forest, she has powers no one can explain, and has difficulty controlling them. Loved the unconditional support of the Mother Superior. Loved the solid friendship with Josephina, and the really cute demons. Love that the author talks about drawing on her Dominican and American heritages.

Some things that are cool but unresolved for me: Manu is depicted as possibly gender nonconforming -- cool, but unexplored. I like that there is sort of a burgeoning romance with Josephina, but it's not the focus of the book, and it might just be friendship. I didn't really like that "curses can't be removed" and yet there are books about black magic just lying around, and there really is very little discipline for Manu's misbehavior. The shallow reactions from the adults -- for instance, after Manu spills the black magic books from the shelves, the nun who helps replace them can tell she has a book behind her back but doesn't want to know -- are just frustrating. It's hard to imagine that the school is effective at keeping its students safe from themselves or each other -- oh, wait, that's right, they aren't. And they don't seem particularly bothered by it. It's just off for me. I like the compassion that the adults show to Manu, because they can tell she is an outsider in her class, but it still just makes the whole story read more like a zany Asterix adventure than something with more emotion, like Telegemaier or Hale's books.… (más)