Salt Magic

by Hope Larson, Rebecca Mock (Illustrator)

Overview

The epic, Eisner Award-winning graphic novel about a jealous witch, a withering curse, and one girl's journey to save her family— no matter the cost.

Recipient of the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids ages 9–12

When Vonceil's older brother, Elber, comes home to their family's Oklahoma farm after serving on the front lines of World War I, things aren't what she expects. His experiences have changed him into a serious and responsible man who doesn't have time for Vonceil anymore. He even marries the girl he had left behind.

Then a mysterious and captivating woman shows up at the farm and confronts Elber for leaving her in France. When he refuses to leave his wife, she puts a curse on the family well, turning the entire town's water supply into saltwater. Who is this lady dressed all in white, what has she done to the farm, and what does Vonceil's old uncle Dell know about her?

To find out, Vonceil will have to strike out on her own and delve deep into the world of witchcraft, confronting dangerous relatives, shapeshifting animals, a capricious Sugar Witch, and the Lady in White herself—the foreboding Salt Witch. The journey will change Vonceil, but along the way she'll learn a lot about love and what it means to grow up.

Hope Larson is the author and illustrator of the Eisner Award nominated All Summer Long and the illustrator of the Eisner Award winning A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel. Salt Magic is an utterly unique graphic fairy tale complete with striking illustrations by Rebecca Mock.


Named to the Little Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List
An ALSC Notable Children's Book
An ALA Graphic Novel's & Comics Round Table Top Ten Best Graphic Novels for Children Selection
A Mighty Girl Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editors' Choice

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823446209
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	648,217
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.76(h) x 0.78(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Hope Larson has written and illustrated many graphic novels including All Summer Long, which was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018 and an Eisner Award nominee, as well as its recently published sequel, All Together Now. She adapted and illustrated A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel, which spent forty-four weeks on the New York Times graphic novel bestseller list and for which she won an Eisner Award. She is also the author of Compass South (A New York Times Bestseller), and its companion volume, Knife's Edge, both illustrated by Rebecca Mock. She lives in North Carolina.

Rebecca Mock is an illustrator and comics artist. They illustrated the graphic novels Compass South and Knife's Edge, both written by Hope Larson. Their work has also appeared in various publications, including the New York Times and The New Yorker. They are the co-organizer of the Hana Doki Kira anthology. They live in Brooklyn, New York. Visit their website at https://rebeccamock.com

Editorial Reviews

★ "Larson weaves the story tightly, keeping Vonceil and her journey at the center and wrapping everything else around it. Mock’s art is loose and effortless, the characters’ facial expressions telling as much of the story as Larson’s words do. A master class in fabulism done right."—Booklist, Starred Review

★ "In Mock’s skillful art, each panel glints with sharp, precise color work and expert shadow play, highlighting the cruel, dark side of Larson’s world—a satisfying blend of the mythical and the historical that will enthrall graphic-novel lovers."—The Horn Book, Starred Review

"The best comics reading experience I've had in a long time." —Ben Hatke, author-illustrator of #1 New York Times Bestselling Zita the Spacegirl series 

"Sumptuously detailed in all aspects, readers of all ages will be whisked away by this unique and modern fairy tale. Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock take a story filled with fantasy and imagination and ground it with great humanity and depth. A book to return to over and over again."—Jen Wang, author-illustrator of the Eisner award-winning The Prince and the Dressmaker

"An absorbing and fast-paced historical fantasy adventure. Mock’s illustrations make every enchanting, dangerous moment pop. Salt Magic is a feast of a tale that treats readers to an epic battle between evil forces and a courageous, persistent young hero."—BookPage
 
"Readers with a sweet tooth or a salt tooth looking for a historical fantasy will swallow this graphic novel fairy tale whole. Highly recommended."—School Library Journal

"The perfect alchemy of gorgeous illustration and richly imagined story." —Victoria Ying, author-illustrator of City of Secrets
 
"Salt Magic is an epic coming-of-age adventure. Rebecca’s artwork is some of the most gorgeous cartooning I have ever seen, bringing Hope’s incredible storytelling to vibrant life. With witches, magic, and cowboys, you’ve never read a Western like this before!" —Cathy G. Johnson, author-illustrator of The Breakaways

"This story by the previous collaborators (Compass South) unfolds skillfully, taking time to develop memorable heroine Vonceil and her quotidian world . . . before setting her on an adventure that echoes fantasy classics yet feels entirely distinct."—Publishers Weekly

"Unusual and excellent, containing wonder within."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

10/08/2021

Gr 5 Up—Vonceil Taggart is dismayed when her beloved older brother Elber returns home from World War I in 1919 and proposes to his childhood sweetheart, Amelia. Vonceil had hoped that Elber would fall in love with a French nurse and take her with him, far away from Gypsum, OK. But when glamorous, mysterious Greda comes to the Taggart farm looking for Elber, Vonceil regrets her wish: Upon finding out that Elber is married, Greda curses the spring on their farm to turn into salt water. Feeling at fault, Vonceil sets out after Greda to make things right; in doing so, she hears a secret family story and makes risky bargains. The color and tone of the illustration shifts depending on the different settings, with earth tones for the farm and candy colors and twilight hues as Vonceil encounters more fantastical settings. Mock's art communicates characters' expressions (mutinous Vonceil looking a bit like Ramona Quimby in the beginning); contains fine details, such as the quilt on Vonceil's bed and Greda's diamond-shaped pupils; conveys action, including a fight, an escape, and a wordless party scene; and shows subtle sparkles of magic. Tall, slender Greda is drawn in 1920s flapper fashion; all main characters are white. An epilogue makes for a sweet finish. VERDICT Readers with a sweet tooth or a salt tooth looking for a historical fantasy will swallow this graphic novel fairy tale whole. Highly recommended.—Jenny Arch, Lilly Lib., Florence, MA

School Library Journal

2021-07-27
An eerie graphic novel slides from apparent historical fiction into an unsettling fairy tale.

Larson and Mock open this story with a kiss, as Elber, just returning to Gypsum, Oklahoma, from fighting in World War I, proposes to hometown girl Amelia. Elber’s youngest sister, Vonceil, 11, watches in envy and disgust: Until Elber left two years ago, she had been his favorite companion. At the hastily arranged wedding, volatile Great-Uncle Dell accuses Amelia of being the white witch who killed his brother Jesse nearly 70 years earlier. Not long after these events, a mysterious woman dressed in white comes to town, accuses Elber of abandoning her in France, and magically turns the farm’s fresh spring to salt water. Vonceil goes to Great-Uncle Dell for help, and he tells her a strange story that parallels an adventure that Vonceil then has with a sugar witch. After that, the story gets complicated. The tension between fully grounded reality (e.g., the Sears house the family built) and wild fantasy (e.g., the witch’s fetes) pulls the tale in opposite directions, but somehow Vonceil’s pragmatism and Larson’s clean writing keep the thread from breaking. Mock’s full-color illustrations portray mood and atmosphere extremely effectively through novel page layouts and kaleidoscopic points of view. Characters read as White.

Unusual and excellent, containing wonder within. (Graphic fantasy. 10-16)

Kirkus Reviews

09/20/2021

When her older brother Elber returns to Gypsum, Okla., from WWI profoundly changed and ready to settle down, 12-year-old Vonceil misses his adventurous spirit, which previously matched her own. After Elber marries his sweetheart, Amelia—accused at the wedding of being a witch—his past intrudes in the form of the arrival of an elegant woman who nursed him in Paris. Spurned, the newcomer turns the family spring—the only reliable source of water in a drought affecting the farming community—to saline. Determined to lift the curse, Vonceil rides out at night, encountering her bizarre family history and a hidden world of dangerous magical beings that will require grit, resourcefulness, and unexpected allies to navigate. Mock’s washed-out, dusty palette and carefully observed fashion swiftly conjures rural Oklahoma in 1919, while occasional bursts of bright, clear color separate the magical from the mundane. Despite uneven pacing at some transitional moments, this story by the previous collaborators (Compass South) unfolds skillfully, taking time to develop memorable heroine Vonceil and her quotidian world, whose characters cue as white, before setting her on an adventure that echoes fantasy classics yet feels entirely distinct. Ages 10–14. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly