Scary Godmother by Jill Thompson | Graphic Novel Review

Series: Scary Godmother, #1-4 + story

Publisher: Dark Horse Books

Pub. Date: 2010

Genre: Modern Fantasy, Children’s Graphic Novel

Pages: 207

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I used to watch Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular and its sequel Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy every October, and then Cartoon Network stopped showing them. While I was in a course on children’s literature two years ago, I found Scary Godmother in the children’s section of one of the academic libraries. I never knew that the TV show was based on a graphic novel, and it was fun to read.

Starting with “The Scary Godmother,” Hannah is going trick-or-treating with the big kids this year. The big kids do not want Hannah slowing them down on their quest for candy. Luckily, Hannah’s Scary Godmother is there to save her godchild’s Halloween. “The Revenge of Jimmy,” “The Mystery Date,” “The Boo Flu,” and “Tea for Orson” continues Hannah, Cousin Jimmy, and the monsters’ mostly Halloween adventures. I would have loved seeing all of those adapted for Cartoon Network.

The full-color watercolor illustrations are beautiful and make the book fun instead of scary. Since the first story is designed to make Halloween fun, it makes sense for the characters, especially the monsters to look cute. It’s also clear how the characters were designed for the TV programs. If this book had existed when I was little, I would have loved it for making Halloween fun, like the Halloweentown movies.

This collection of sweet and funny little tales is perfect to read for the Halloween season. It is also a good transition from picture books to graphic novels. I think it will also be appreciated by those kids who don’t like the scary side of Halloween.