Originally published in 2018n by Koyama Press and re released this year by Tundra Books, just in time for Halloween, Evie and the Truth About Witches by John Martz is a surprising story about what happens when you don’t follow the instructions.

Evie gets a new book about witches. In it she reads about how they eat children, cast spells, and make potions. It’s not scary and Evie wants to be scared. After explicitly being told not to read the last page she does and ends up being taken away to a land of witches. She has so much fun she wants to become a witch herself but is that a good idea?

Evie and the Truth About Witches is a really fun graphic story for readers as young as age 4. As you are reading you get the sense that it is a lovely little story about misunderstood witches and a little girl’s enlightenment. I thought it was a lovely story but nothing terribly special until I got to the end and laughed out loud. I loved the surprise and unexpected ending to the story and young readers will love it too.

I loved the illustrations in this story. The simple ghoulish colour palette of black, grey punctuated with red gave the story just enough fright factor so as not to scare the pants off young readers but also leave those like Evie feeling a little shive down their spines.

A fabulous first look at a graphic novel for the youngest readers and easy to read with simple, straightforward language.