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★★★★★ 4
Kids Love It
Format: Paperback
My sons both really enjoyed this book. They found the magical theme and characters very enjoyable. The graphic novel format is especially awesome. My 10 year old is dyslexic and graphic novels have been instrumental in cultivating his love of reading. He's a very visual and kinesthetic learner, and graphic novels make it so he can dive into a book and understand the story, even if he can't quite decipher all the words. With all the tutoring and reading support that challenges him, it's important to find ways to make reading enjoyable and relevant. This book is now part of our collection that helps us accomplish that! My 8 year old is not dyslexic, but he's not reading totally fluently yet, so he gets the same benefit out of graphic novels. The reasons I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5 is because I felt like the story missed some opportunities for more depth. The story arc was a little flat, and the relationship between Aster and Charlie wasn't very well developed so you just had to assume they had some sort of soul connection that explained their closeness. Also, at the end of the story the parents say the most annoying thing to the main character when he reveals his differences and saves the day, "We love you no matter what." "No matter what" is what I imagine Charles Manson's mother would say about loving him. The phrase implies that they believe there is something terribly wrong with him, but they still love him in spite of it rather than loving him because of his uniqueness and without conditions. These, of course, are things that only I as an adult picked up on. My kids still loved the book, and want to read the rest of the series. Overall, I'm super happy with this book and am grateful to have it!
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Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2020
