Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

Summary from Goodreads:

Kat Leyh's Snapdragon is a magical realist graphic novel about a young girl who befriends her town's witch and discovers the strange magic within herself.

Snap's town had a witch.

At least, that's how the rumor goes. But in reality, Jacks is just a Crocs-wearing, internet-savvy old lady who sells roadkill skeletons online. It's creepy, sure, but Snap thinks it's kind of cool, too.

Snap needs a favor from this old woman, though, so she begins helping Jacks with her strange work. Snap gets to know her and realizes that Jacks may in fact have real magic--and an unlikely connection to Snap's family's past.

Review:

I’m not really sure what I was expecting when I sat down one rainy afternoon to read this, but it wasn’t the heartwarming story of love, acceptance, and friendship that I got. I think I was expecting more a fantasy story about dragons and magic. Instead, I got 3-legged dogs, rescued opossums, bullied kids, boys who like to wear dresses, and a long lost lesbian love story. I was pleasantly surprised. So much love was packed into this small graphic novel.

I also have to say that I love reading a graphic novel about a black family and mostly all black characters. I don’t see enough of this. More kids needs to see themselves in the books they read, especially in graphic novels –where everything is so visible. I also loved that magic wasn’t the focal point. It’s kind of a side element of the story. It’s mostly about saving animals and accepting each other’s differences.

This is also a multigenerational story, in that there are kids as the main characters, but the kids are connecting with characters who are grandparent aged. And parents are a part of the story too. Lots of ages are represented in this book.

The artwork is unique. Its unlike a lot of other graphic novels I’ve seen, though now that I see Kat Leyh is the cover artist for Lumberjanes series, that makes a lot of sense to me. I can see some connections, though this is definitely its own special art. I particularly enjoy how the animals and the spirits of animals are portrayed. It just looks so cool. All in all, this was a sweet, cool book to look at it. It makes you feel good. And I hope a lot of people read it. I give it a 9/10.