Witch for Hire: A Graphic Novel

When a series of high school pranks get out of hand, teen witch Faye Faulkner is the only one who can solve the case in this spooky YA graphic novel\nFaye Faulkner isn’t popular, and that’s just fine by her. She spends her lunches at the Loser Table with the other social rejects, aka her best friends, and brushes off the uninspired taunts from the cool kids. But when lonely freshman Cody finds her way to Faye’s corner of the cafeteria, it sets off a peculiar chain of events . . . To Cody’s surprise, these kids aren’t so bad; an overdramatic theater nerd, a handicapable girl in a wheelchair, an overweight boy, and Faye, who comes to school every day dressed like a witch. But it’s no costume, Faye really is a witch!\nWhile high school can be hell for many reasons, this year the ante has been raised when a series of pranks swiftly go from mischievous to downright dangerous. From the lowliest debate team nerds to the prom queen, no one is safe, not even the teachers! When things start to really get out of hand, Cody owns up to Faye: in a moment of desperation, she signed up for an online challenge that promises to grant popularity to those who follow the website’s twisted demands.\nNow Faye is faced with a choice: Reveal her witchy nature to Cody and help her or stand aside and keep her secret identity safe. Despite her misgivings, Faye takes on the case, but will her powers be strong enough to solve this mystery? And will people ever stop asking her if she puts newts’ eyes in her homemade baked goods? Witch for Hire is a gothic whodunnit about resilience, magic, and the power of friendship.\nFrom School Library Journal\nGr 7 Up-From the book's title, readers may be expecting goofy plots or calamitous capers, but Naifeh's latest effort is instead a sinister mystery that captures the social intricacies of high school. The story opens with shy new student Cody being relegated to the "loser" lunch table and finding tentative kinship with its occupants, in particular Faye Faulkner, a sullen girl in a witch hat. Surely, it's just a cultivated image. But as the story unfolds, sinister pranks are unleashed upon popular kids, nerds, and nobodies alike. Fingers are pointed far too frequently at Faye. As Faye works to uncover the source of the incidents, readers realize the genesis and extent of Faye's powers and the fearsomeness of her true foe, who prowls the ethereal realms of the internet. Naifeh's winding narrative captures the claustrophobia of cliques and catfights, with sharp, shadowy illustrations and an autumnal palette adding to the dark mood. Faye and Cody are both light-skinned. VERDICT Frightening as much for its depiction of social cruelty and scapegoating as for supernatural sorcery, this is an engrossing read.-Emilia Packard, Austin, TXα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.