Jazzy is a witch who likes to ride bicycles. She likes to ride real bicycles. These are the pedal-powered bicycles that depend on centripetal force for their turns and are 100% reliant on people to move forward. Jazzy is also a lot like most kids in elementary school. Friend Fiasco is the second book in the Jazzy the Witch series and is just the charming, low-key, comfort reading that kids in mid through upper-elementary school want to read.
We didn’t read Broom Doom, which was the first book in the series. In my mind’s eye I imagine it having the same appeal as Friend Fiasco. It’s a chapter-based graphic novel. This style of graphic novel is very appealing to young readers because the build confidence to those who find the book challenging. Elementary-aged children love graphic novels. Girls read much more than boys. This is a graphic novel that will appeal more to girls than boys, but not too disproportionately.
There’s nary a boy in the book, but that’s ok. There are lots of sight gags, dad jokes about witchcraft, movement with a bike race and age-appropriate witch humor. Jazzy goes to a school for young witches. She has a pet bat and her best friend has a black cat as a pet. Jazzy has also come into her own, as much as an elementary school kid can, and she loves to ride her bike. In the first book she learned how to ride a bike, even though witches ride brooms, and everyone in town knows her as the bike-riding witch.
In the ending days of summer, another pointy hat-wearing witch is seen zooming around town on two wheels. This other witch seems friendly because they’re waving as they pass by, but their speed is on another level when compared to Jazzy. Her best friend tries to comfort Jazzy, but she has a funny feeling about this fast new kid.
In the third chapter it’s revealed that the new kid in town is the speedster on two wheels. This new kid is fluent in languages Jazzy hasn’t even heard of, in addition to being the president of many clubs at her old school. As part of her “about me” speech to the class, the new kid drives the dagger even deeper by telling everyone that she loves to ride a bike. Apparently, witches in this town are supposed to ride their brooms and riding bikes was the otherwise unique skill that Jazzy was teaching kids.
This immediately sets Jazzy at odds with the new kid. They’re able to cast spells better than her. The kids in school laugh at her jokes louder. Everything she used to turn to gold is going sideways. Jazzy starts to do things that are unlike her normal behavior. She does mean things, tricks the new kid and becomes a Class-A jerk. The climax of the book happens because the school sees the tension between the two cyclists and organizes a bike, fly and magic race. It must happen on their bicycles and every kid at school is super excited about it. Jazzy’s bike is cobbled together from spare parts. The new kid’s bike is state of the art, and she has two of them.
Jazzy the Witch in Friend Fiasco is loaded with jokes. There are quips and dad jokes that some audiences will know, and others that those kids will recite to their friends like they just thought of them. There are also visual gags on every page. Between the two of those categories, kids will laugh or grin at every page, regardless of their reading level.
Get a kid to laugh, and you’ll get a kid to read. Young readers, mainly girls, who are in second through fifth grade will eat this book up. They’ve probably already eaten up the first one in the series. The Halloweenish setting with the witches, start of school and autumn colors in the forest helps sell the fun too. While Friend Fiasco could be enjoyed anytime, it feels more at home in the fall.
Regardless of when you read it, the book demos younger than other graphic novels for girls. Anything that gets kids reading younger is a great thing. In this case, it’s a thicker book for those young ages that won’t be at intimidating due to its graphic novel format. This is goofy, fun for kids that will allow them to learn to love to read. They’ll take the book for read-alone time, or whatever it’s called now, laugh at the jokes, trace the letters on the cover, and re-read it multiple times.
Jazzy the Witch in Friend Fiasco is by Jessixa Bagley and is available on Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
There are affiliate links in this post.
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube