Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

O Menino Bruxa by Molly Knox Ostertag

28 reviews

tinysierra's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Witch Boy was an enjoyable story with beautiful art. 

I liked the way that time was portrayed. The scenes at night had a black backdrop while the daytime had a white backdrop. 

Book 9 for the
#TransRightsReadathon2024
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

novella42's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kshertz's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This is such a sweet book and such a great example of using fantasy to explain gender identity. I really enjoyed the overall theme that we not only need men and women but we also need those that don’t identify at the ends of the binary. The skills as a focus and the need for talents that are different from Aron was so clear. I think it’s a great middle grade read with lots of different levels and layers. I will probably read the whole series.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

pastelkerstin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cat12345's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

wardenred's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Maybe if I just never do witchery, it'll go away.

For some reason, this book made me so incredibly sad. It's not because there's anything wrong with it! I didn't fail to notice the heartwarming ending, nor the very positive message about being yourself whatever other says. I really enjoyed the beautiful art. All the witchiness was awesome, too: the spellcraft, the magic weapons, the sigils, the overall vibes. But the themes just hit so hard. All those gender roles—isn't it utterly stupid that we as a society keep sorting people into two narrow boxes? And Aster's family: his parents seem like such genuinely nice people, except they lead him to believe that if he only could become the kind of person they want him to be, they probably won't care if he learns the necessary skills from a monster. His grandmother sneaks small bits of support his way, but she never openly speaks up in his favor until he does something completely extraordinary with his talents. Like it's not enough to just be himself, he also has to do a really great job against all odds and be a real hero, and then maybe he's going to *start* getting acceptance. There are all those people who claim to love him, but no one's really trying to understand him, and a new friend from the outside world is quickly able to offer him more support about the things that actually matter than all the people who are supposed to care for him combined. That's all so sad, really, and so familiar in certain ways.

Anyway, this is a really good graphic novel, and I feel like those who would benefit most from reading it are, first and foremost, not those who are growing up different but those who surround them. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kurumipanda's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cateyeschloe's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The Witch Boy is a great graphic novel with an interesting concept! 

Aster is born into a family of magical people. All of the women are witches, and all of the men are shapeshifters. These are their roles and they must always fulfill them. Aster, however, feels much more drawn to witchcraft than he does to shifting despite being a boy. 

There are some great parallels in this story to folks who struggle with families that don’t understand their identities, whether it’s their gender, sexuality, etc. 

Aster has to grapple with being true to himself while trying to get his family to understand and accept him. 

(It lowkey has kind of the vibe of the movie Encanto, honestly.)

There’s a lot of great diversity represented in the family, also! The art style was also super cute. 

Overall, this was a super fun read and I really enjoyed the creativity of their family dynamics! 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lunarxcross's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful relaxing sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

onefineelephant's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 10/10. I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The illustrations are so wonderful and the storyline is very compelling. The ending was particularly heartwarming. Highly recommend. Also, my 5th-grade students loved it as well. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings