The witch in the tower

Sardà began The Three Sisters picture-book series with the stunning forest adventure The Queen in the Cave (2022), which starred the eldest girl, Franca. Here Carmela, the middle child, has a revelatory experience of her own. Feeling bored and annoyed with her sisters, Carmela decides to walk off her bad mood by playing Walk until You Can't Walk Anymore, and just as it seems that she can't take another step, Carmela finds herself at the foot of a tower. So, she knocks. A chipper witch opens the door ("Eye of toad and pupil of goat! . . . I'm so glad you came!") and whisks Carmela into her abode. Lushly cluttered illustrations reveal rooms packed with plants and gothic details (a gargoyle, crows, bubbling beakers), veritably demanding close inspection. The witch brews a special potion that allows Carmela to let go of her worries and to open her eyes to the wonders of the universe--and of herself. Sardà's intricate artwork reflects Carmela's inner journey as much as her outer one, truly letting loose as Carmela gleefully unlocks her own free-spirited magic. It's a wild rumpus of sorts and a love letter to the outcasts, "the lonely, the lost, and the different ones"--and that is a beautiful, empowering thing.

Gr 2 Up--Tapping into ancient power and making the world less scary are themes in this rich tale. When middle sister Carmela feels ignored by her elder sister and irritated by her younger sister, she sets off on a journey. After finding a witch's tower, everything changes and she begins to find her own sense of self. This mythical book shines due to the amazing illustrations, s folksy charm infusing the pages with floral and faunal details. This witchy woman fills her tower with patterned chaos, flowers and frogs in unexpected places, adding to the mysterious magic of the story. Readers will be as delighted and surprised as wide-eyed Carmela. Within the pages the "beauty of the universe" fills Carmela. It will fill readers as well. VERDICT A nearly psychedelic sensory experience of feminine power and peace.

Feeling excluded by her friends, a melancholy youngster sets out on a walk in search of solitude--and finds herself along the way. Happening upon a lone tower, Carmela becomes bewitched by its denizen, a heavily mascaraed hag with a propensity for mind-reading and a welcome tinged with menace. As the pair busy themselves brewing an elixir meant to heal Carmela's heartbreak, the girl hesitates. This recipe feels familiar. A grand tour of the tower's turret, too, inspires a sense of possibility. By the time the duo open their doors to a coven of similarly kooky misfits, it's wildly apparent that this space--be it physical, spiritual, or something else entirely--is where she belongs…and where she can create space for others, too. With the second installment in her Three Sisters trilogy, Sardà has struck gold. Both narrative and aesthetic ooze style, coolly occupying the intersection between cautionary folktale and coming-of-age fantasy epic. And while the story underscores just how powerful individuality can be when it's made inclusive, Sardà reserves swaths of space for interpretation: What is imagined? What is reality? And does the difference matter? Readers will benefit from keeping a dictionary handy, since lofty vocabulary words appear throughout. The breathtaking beauty of Sardà's illustrations, too, defy description--at once psychedelic, eerie, and Miyazaki-esque in their enchanting detail, they demand poring over. The result is singular, not merely a modern classic but one for the ages. Carmela and the witch are light-skinned. Utterly spellbinding.(Picture book. 6-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.