Publisher's Weekly Review
When middle schooler Snapdragon's dog goes missing, Snapdragon dares to enter the house of a reputed witch and finds the hound recuperating from an accident. The next day, encountering a dead opossum mother and her living babies, Snapdragon takes them back to the house for help. The purported witch, an older woman named Jacks who raced motorcycles in her youth, makes a deal with Snapdragon--Jacks will help Snapdragon care for the possums if Snapdragon helps Jacks with her work harvesting road kill, then cleaning and selling the articulated skeletons online. As the self-possessed girl develops an interest in vertebrate anatomy, she spends time in her trailer park home evolving a meaningful friendship with trans neighbor Lu, honing an interest in frightening tales, and navigating the fallout of her hardworking single mother's most recent relationship. She also discovers that Jacks is deeply connected to her own family--and just might be an actual witch. In bright, dynamic art, Leyh packs Snapdragon's world with an array of wonderful characters, full of quirks and contradictions, who represent a variety of ethnicities, sexualities, and gender expressions. Full of magic and humor, this intersectional, layered tale offers joyful and affirming depictions of social outsiders and comfortably complicated families. Ages 10--14. (Feb.)■
Kirkus Review
Lumberjanes comic books collaborator Leyh expertly blends fantasy and realism in her energetic debut solo middle-grade graphic novel."Our town has a witch. She fed her eye to the devil. She eats roadkill and casts spells with the bones." Snapdragon knows the rumors, but after the "roadkill witch" rescues Snap's beloved dog and agrees to foster abandoned possum babies, Snap starts to think all may not be as it seems. And it's true: The town's "witch" is actually Crocs-wearing, white-haired, one-eyed Jacks. Gruff but nurturing, Jacks takes Snap under her wing, teaching Snap her work of using bones from roadkill to build and sell anatomically correct skeletal systems. But it also turns out that Jacks is a witch, using magic to release the souls of roadkill back into nature, and Snap is desperate to find out if she can also channel magic. Leyh's characters are fully realized, from Snap's simultaneously overflowing skepticism and enthusiasm to her dynamic with her single working-while-in-school mom, from Jacks' quiet history with Snap's grandma to Snap's new best friend's transition to wearing skirts, loving nail polish, and being called Lulu. Their world isn't perfect: Snap and Lulu are bullied at school, economic struggles are apparent, and Snap's mom's abusive ex-boyfriend shows up more than once (including in a finale that has a twinge of deus ex machina). Jacks is white while Snap, her family, Lulu, and most secondary characters are coded as blackall, refreshingly, presenting with a realistic variety of skin tones and hair colors and textures. Sweet and fierce, this is a must-have. (Graphic fantasy. 8-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
There's something creepy about Jacks, the odd, gangly, one-eyed old white woman living in Snapdragon's town, but Snap's not afraid, especially after Jacks shows her how to take care of a litter of orphaned possums and what she's up to early in the morning with a wheelbarrow full of roadkill (it involves a very lucrative internet business for skeleton enthusiasts). Beyond their shared obsession with animals, though, Snap and Jacks have a much deeper connection based on family secrets, ghosts, and a touch of magic. The slow reveal of those connections makes up the dense but heartening plot of Leyh's graphic novel, which is bolstered by some affirming, character-revealing side-plots, such as Snap's growing friendship with transgender, dark-skinned Lulu; her fantastic relationship with her tough yet deeply compassionate Black mother; and her impatience to become more powerful herself. Leyh's dynamic artwork, full of active motion, shifting perspectives, and varying panel shapes and sizes, matches the complexity of the plot, and her figure designs, which show a wide variety of gender presentations, body shapes, skin tones, and hair types, nicely complement her characters' personalities. Beyond the magic, creepy undertones, and captivating artwork, themes of acceptance, particularly regarding gender and sexuality, permeate the story and are handled in a refreshing, matter-of-fact manner. This endearingly offbeat story emphasizes found community, the importance of love and friendship, and a fierce commitment to individuality--all powerful themes for middle-grade readers.
