★★★★★ 5
which is my favorite place to shop for my classroom
Format: Paperback
I found this book in the #WeNeedDiverseBooks catalog on Scholastic Book Clubs, which is my favorite place to shop for my classroom. This book appealed to me because it was a graphic novel, and because of its premise in examining gender norms.
Aster is a boy who lives in a magical society where the girls are trained to be witches, and the boys are supposed to grow to be shapeshifters. Aster's shapeshifting magic hasn't come to him, and he's really much more interested in witchery. At one part of the story, he points out to the other boys that it's silly that the girls are in lessons learning things while they are just running around playing fighting games. As a teacher, this made me smile! His family then runs into a mysterious danger, and no one will listen to him when he thinks he has a way to help make things right. Will he be able to use magic his way to help save his family?
This book features a diverse cast, which is readily apparent to the reader thanks to the graphic novel format. Aster is a likable protagonist, as is his friend Charlie. I love the message that shatters the binary gender norms, especially because they are sometimes quite rigid in this age group. When I listed the books I had bought to my students this last year, some of them questioned me on how the title could be "The Witch Boy." Even in the world of fantasy, they had clear gender norms established in their head. I am all for books that can help loosen those norms and create more open minds. There is no reason for our children to feel like there are things that they cannot do or be because they have been assigned a certain gender. Because of its fantasy setting, I feel like it's a book that can be more readily accepted by readers and gatekeepers with more conservative views. This kind of representation is very important for our children who are coming of age and discovering themselves.
Because it's a middle grade novel, the plot of THE WITCH BOY moved very quickly and I would have loved more details about the characters and the world. However, I think it'll be more than enough to keep kids engaged, and the story line is easy to follow. It's a quick read, which is a huge plus for some of our reluctant readers, and my students were definitely attracted to the full color, high-quality pages. This was the nicest looking book in the book order that it came in, and one of my students must have liked it enough to keep it, because it never made it back and I had to order a new one on Amazon.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2018
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