August 15, 2021
An eerie graphic novel slides from apparent historical fiction into an unsettling fairy tale. Larson and Mock open this story with a kiss, as Elber, just returning to Gypsum, Oklahoma, from fighting in World War I, proposes to hometown girl Amelia. Elber's youngest sister, Vonceil, 11, watches in envy and disgust: Until Elber left two years ago, she had been his favorite companion. At the hastily arranged wedding, volatile Great-Uncle Dell accuses Amelia of being the white witch who killed his brother Jesse nearly 70 years earlier. Not long after these events, a mysterious woman dressed in white comes to town, accuses Elber of abandoning her in France, and magically turns the farm's fresh spring to salt water. Vonceil goes to Great-Uncle Dell for help, and he tells her a strange story that parallels an adventure that Vonceil then has with a sugar witch. After that, the story gets complicated. The tension between fully grounded reality (e.g., the Sears house the family built) and wild fantasy (e.g., the witch's fetes) pulls the tale in opposite directions, but somehow Vonceil's pragmatism and Larson's clean writing keep the thread from breaking. Mock's full-color illustrations portray mood and atmosphere extremely effectively through novel page layouts and kaleidoscopic points of view. Characters read as White. Unusual and excellent, containing wonder within. (Graphic fantasy. 10-16)
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September 20, 2021
When her older brother Elber returns to Gypsum, Okla., from WWI profoundly changed and ready to settle down, 12-year-old Vonceil misses his adventurous spirit, which previously matched her own. After Elber marries his sweetheart, Amelia—accused at the wedding of being a witch—his past intrudes in the form of the arrival of an elegant woman who nursed him in Paris. Spurned, the newcomer turns the family spring—the only reliable source of water in a drought affecting the farming community—to saline. Determined to lift the curse, Vonceil rides out at night, encountering her bizarre family history and a hidden world of dangerous magical beings that will require grit, resourcefulness, and unexpected allies to navigate. Mock’s washed-out, dusty palette and carefully observed fashion swiftly conjures rural Oklahoma in 1919, while occasional bursts of bright, clear color separate the magical from the mundane. Despite uneven pacing at some transitional moments, this story by the previous collaborators (Compass South) unfolds skillfully, taking time to develop memorable heroine Vonceil and her quotidian world, whose characters cue as white, before setting her on an adventure that echoes fantasy classics yet feels entirely distinct. Ages 10–14.
October 8, 2021
Gr 5 Up-Vonceil Taggart is dismayed when her beloved older brother Elber returns home from World War I in 1919 and proposes to his childhood sweetheart, Amelia. Vonceil had hoped that Elber would fall in love with a French nurse and take her with him, far away from Gypsum, OK. But when glamorous, mysterious Greda comes to the Taggart farm looking for Elber, Vonceil regrets her wish: Upon finding out that Elber is married, Greda curses the spring on their farm to turn into salt water. Feeling at fault, Vonceil sets out after Greda to make things right; in doing so, she hears a secret family story and makes risky bargains. The color and tone of the illustration shifts depending on the different settings, with earth tones for the farm and candy colors and twilight hues as Vonceil encounters more fantastical settings. Mock's art communicates characters' expressions (mutinous Vonceil looking a bit like Ramona Quimby in the beginning); contains fine details, such as the quilt on Vonceil's bed and Greda's diamond-shaped pupils; conveys action, including a fight, an escape, and a wordless party scene; and shows subtle sparkles of magic. Tall, slender Greda is drawn in 1920s flapper fashion; all main characters are white. An epilogue makes for a sweet finish. VERDICT Readers with a sweet tooth or a salt tooth looking for a historical fantasy will swallow this graphic novel fairy tale whole. Highly recommended.-Jenny Arch, Lilly Lib., Florence, MA
Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from November 1, 2021
In this third graphic novel collaboration between Larson and Mock (Compass South, rev. 7/16; Knife's Edge), what begins as a twentieth-century family drama quickly uncoils into a much more sinister -- and spellbinding -- modern fairy tale. Vonceil Taggert is the youngest of five siblings and the most adventuresome of the lot. So when her eldest brother, Elber, returns to Oklahoma after his service in WWI and immediately marries his longtime sweetheart, it's a disappointment to Vonceil, who'd had higher hopes for her favorite sibling. The nuptials also vex the stylish and enigmatic Greda, a Frenchwoman who claims to be Elber's ex-love and whose bruised pride causes her to curse the Taggert farm's spring to run with only salt water -- a death sentence given the current drought. Vonceil pledges to restore their water and, with the help of an unlikely accomplice, discovers secrets about Greda that will affect the Taggert family forever. In Mock's skillful art, each panel glints with sharp, precise color work and expert shadow play, highlighting the cruel, dark side of Larson's world -- a satisfying blend of the mythical and the historical that will enthrall graphic-novel lovers. Niki Marion
(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from October 15, 2021
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* Eleven-year-old Vonceil is disgusted that her brother Elber, newly home from war, is going to marry his hometown sweetheart instead of the brave, sophisticated nurse she'd hoped he would meet while serving in the trenches in France. At the wedding, her uncle, Old Dell, a former gold prospector who went away to California and came back not quite right, accuses the bride of being a witch. A few months after the wedding, Greda, a woman dressed all in white, appears in town looking for Elber. The two had had a relationship in France, and when Elber refuses to leave his new wife and run away with her, Greda curses the family's water supply, turning it to salt water. Vonceil connects the dots between Old Dell and this woman and sets out on a quest to save her family's farm that brings her face-to-face with witches, magic, death, and the loss that comes with growing up. Almost impossible to summarize, a tale this full of characters and plot twists could easily become confusing, but Larson weaves the story tightly, keeping Vonceil and her journey at the center and wrapping everything else around it. Mock's art is loose and effortless, the characters' facial expressions telling as much of the story as Larson's words do. A master class in fabulism done right.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
July 1, 2021
In this third graphic novel collaboration between Larson and Mock (Compass South, rev. 7/16; Knife's Edge), what begins as a twentieth-century family drama quickly uncoils into a much more sinister -- and spellbinding -- modern fairy tale. Vonceil Taggert is the youngest of five siblings and the most adventuresome of the lot. So when her eldest brother, Elber, returns to Oklahoma after his service in WWI and immediately marries his longtime sweetheart, it's a disappointment to Vonceil, who'd had higher hopes for her favorite sibling. The nuptials also vex the stylish and enigmatic Greda, a Frenchwoman who claims to be Elber's ex-love and whose bruised pride causes her to curse the Taggert farm's spring to run with only salt water -- a death sentence given the current drought. Vonceil pledges to restore their water and, with the help of an unlikely accomplice, discovers secrets about Greda that will affect the Taggert family forever. In Mock's skillful art, each panel glints with sharp, precise color work and expert shadow play, highlighting the cruel, dark side of Larson's world -- a satisfying blend of the mythical and the historical that will enthrall graphic-novel lovers.
(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)