Baker and Taylor, long a vendor in the library and book selling world, has ventured into publishing original titles in the last few
years. This is one of their new graphic novel series, aimed at beginning and intermediate readers.
The story opens with sibling dragons Forsynthia and Daisy playing “Freezy Fairies” in the yard. Their mom arrives to call them in to say goodbye to their dad who’s leaving for work and to welcome the helicopter delivering her new lab.
Pause the story while Forsynthia explains the history of magic, her mom’s job investigating strange objects and inventing new magical devices for the Secret Magic Bureau, and a few past incidents. After the readers are caught up to speed, Forsynthia and Daisy join their mom in her new science lab to unpack the latest delivery, a mysterious crystal, and they excitedly set out to run errands to different secret facilities across town to research the crystal and its powers.
Unfortunately, their research goes wrong when the sisters and their Nan make a special treat for their mom’s birthday and the yummy cupcakes get mixed up with the crystal’s powers! The city is soon overrun with sentient cupcakes wreaking havoc! Fortunately, with some help from their Nan and some secret weapons from their mom’s stash, Forsynthia and Daisy manage to save the day, just in time for Dad to arrive home… with cupcakes!
I, personally, did not enjoy the palette of colors or the style. It’s very sleek and digital, with a cartoonish cast but the art has an amateurish, uneven look. It’s extremely difficult to tell the female dragons apart – they are all a pale green with purple spots, a large purple oval on their belly, and sprigs of purple “hair.” Nan has a few curls instead of purple sprigs and the father, shown only in one panel at the beginning and a few at the end, has a thick head of dark purple hair. They look like they are wearing dragon suit pajamas.
The backgrounds range through blue, purple, orange and green (yes, it’s a little difficult to see green dragons against a green background) with faint polka dots. Oddly drawn magical or scientific devices pop up throughout the story, but they’re not really drawn in a way that lets readers see how they could, theoretically, work. There are inconsistencies – the mom’s lab is beige when it’s dropped off and has suddenly turned red to match the rest of the house a few pages later – and the shades of various colors shift from page to page.
Some of the things in the story, like the crystal from “Amadula Dooba” felt like stereotyped tropes while others could have used a little more “trope”—what’s the point of featuring “dragons” who can’t fly, breathe fire or actually do any magic? However, it’s a cute idea and most kids at this reading level are not going to be particularly critical about the art style. They’ll enjoy the goofy gadgets and silly cupcakes—talking food is always good for a laugh.
If you are in dire need of more graphic novels at this age range, this is an acceptable addition to the collection, but there are many other fantasy, humor, and STEM-themed graphic titles for beginners that I would be sure are on your shelves before purchasing this series.
Forsynthia: Rise of the cupcakes
By Rachel Dinunzio
Paw Prints (Baker & Taylor), 2024
ISBN: 9781223187921
NFNT Age Recommendation: Easy Readers (5-9), Middle Grade (7-11)
