The Witch Boy

This book really blew me away! This book has some great magic ideas, amazing art, family, friendship, and identity. I was really impressed with such a short book what a vast and solid world they built with room to expand. This was a really exciting story with a lot of commentary that I think would make for a good book club pick. I can't recommend enough! ~Ashley

A wonderful story of a boy who is not like other boys.

Don't try to force people into roles. It's not one's gender or ethnicity or religion or political opinions, sexuality, anything like that, that says what they are good at, what they are meant to do - if you force all girls to become pretty little housewives, you will end up with a lot of unhappy, miserable and pretty bad housewives, and you will lose a lot of talents and resources.

3.5 rounded up.

excited to see what the other two books hold but im not crazy about it. molly knox ostertag has my whole heart though!

This is a great way to question arbitrary gender norms, especially for middle grade readers. I loved the use of different types of magic to separate men and women. So many things in our lives are gender coded: dolls vs. trucks, pink vs. blue, skirts vs. pants, softball vs. baseball, etc. There's no real reason why people can't play, wear, or do whatever they want. Aster's story shows that it can be harmful to deny children their interests just because of their gender. And parents don't have to understand it to love and care for their children as they are. 

Loved everything about this one. You can tell Molly Knox Ostertag put a lot of herself into this one. Great concept and great execution. So excited this is a series!

Reading for the kid in me who was taught all the gender norms... Wish there was stuff like this in the 90s! Loving that there is for the next generation.

4.5 stars

This was cute. It reminds me of [b:Mooncakes 44774415 Mooncakes Suzanne Walker https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565183719l/44774415.SY75.jpg 57982519], with a dash of [b:The Prince and the Dressmaker 34506912 The Prince and the Dressmaker Jen Wang https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1494400495l/34506912.SX50.jpg 46116413]. I am a bit tripped up by the villain. I'm on board with “reinforcing gender as binary stifles everyone, deterring passion and talent.” But that's a broad point, and I don't think you need to trot out a specific antagonist to make it. I get that Mikasi is a foil to Aster, but it's depressing to reduce a genderbending ancestor to a cautionary tale (and threat to children). Like, “it's too late for him, he's been ostracized into misogynistic resentment.” Does this play into problematic tropes about sexually “devious” characters turning predatory and violent? I'll be interested to see how/if this is addressed in the rest of the series. Which (witch! lol), I suppose means I'm continuing the series.

I really enjoyed this! I loved how the diversity was there, but NOT A BIG DEAL. And the idea of someone's life being completely directed by their gender and how to escape that is timely and important. I highly recommend this for readers of the Amulet series.

A sweet story about the dangers of gender roles but also about accepting yourself. The art is great! And I always appreciate a Steven Universe comic cameo... 😂