Advancing her story through a constantly shifting jigsaw puzzle of rhythmically appealing page layouts, Steinkellner solves problem after problem with intense visual improvisations. The liminal land of Hecate, where Moth’s grandmother reigns over a timeless domain of relative safety, shares some of the design features one sees in Little Nemo’s Slumberland.

The compositions throughout are first-rate. There’s even a cat who talks like he came straight from the Catskills. Without ever calling attention to itself, a scholar’s knowledge of American history loads this work with sturdy and subtle reflections, and not just of what happened in Salem or to the religious nonconformist Anne Hutchinson, but also of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. Older readers will appreciate the story’s steady control of its cultural context. Thanks to Steinkellner’s crafty focus on the emotional magic of intergenerational empathy, The Okay Witch explores what it means to be perceived as the “other” by history in a way that teens are likely to enjoy.

Aimed at readers in their early teens, her book revels in the scope and range of effects available to contemporary graphic artists while downplaying the demonic side of witchcraft in favor of a more hopeful, feminist view.

In her solo debut as a graphic novelist, Emma Steinkellner tells the story of three generations of American witches from the point of view of the youngest one, Moth Hush.

The okay witch book 2