• Maddy Kettle: The Adventure of the Thimblewitch
• by Eric Orchard
• published by Top Shelf Productions (2014)
• Price: $14.95
• Roar Score: 4/5

Right away, my kids wanted to know who the Thimblewitch was. Is she good? Is she bad? What does she want? This is the sign of a good book in my house: one that engages their curiosity with questions from the get-go. A good cover or a good title can do that. This book has both. We’re off to a good start.

I picked up Maddy Kettle on a whim from Top Shelf at this year’s Small Press Expo. I admit, it was in a small stack of other books–Top Shelf puts out some great stuff–but it had just been released that weekend.

The book tells the story of 11-year-old Maddy. Through flashbacks, we learn that she works in her parents’ bookstore, but the book begins with her parents already turned into kangaroo rats.

This elicited a torrent of giggles. Zoey thought it hilarious that her parents are rats (since it’s not immediately explained that the parents were turned into rats by the Thimblewitch). Five pages in, and we’re still on the right track.

In a nutshell, Maddy goes off on a quest to rescue her parents and turn them back into her parents. Along the way, she meets up with Harry and Silvio who travel via hot-air balloon, map the clouds, and travel to the moon. I won’t spoil any more of the story beyond that.

The book is relatively slim at only 89 pages, so it’s easily read in one go at bedtime or storytime. Still, there’s a lot of imagination and fun packed into those 89 pages.

Eric Orchard’s style has a unique and quirky feel to it, which matches the tone of the book perfectly. The story is also fairly dark, which translates to the page both figuratively and literally. Nearly half the book takes place either at night or in the rain, and successfully pulling off that many panels of dark blue and purple is no easy feat.

The illustrations are beautiful and lend the book a distinct and lovely style.

More than once, we could see Ghibli and Miyazaki influences at play. A quest against a potentially misunderstood witch (Howl’s Moving Castle), a floating fortress obscured by clouds (Castle in the Sky), an adorable talking-animal sidekick that provides some comedy relief (Kiki’s Delivery Service), and a young, strong female protagonist (almost every Ghibli movie ever).

This is not a criticism. Eric Orchard doesn’t shy away from showcasing his influences. However, rather than feel derivative of those influences, the story certainly (and thankfully) stands on its own as an original piece of children’s fantasy.

(In fairness, I don’t know for certain that Orchard was directly influenced by Miyazaki, but it seems pretty obvious. Plus, it’s hard to find an artist working today who wasn’t influenced by him in some way.)

Maddy Kettle is Eric Orchard’s first graphic novel, and it’s an auspicious and gorgeous debut. Like any good piece of fantasy, the book has an open ending. Maddy’s quest will continue, and I can honestly say that we’re looking forward to the next chapter in this story.