Tidesong by Wendy Xu

Tidesong by Wendy Xu
My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from HarperCollins Children's Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Sophie is sent to live with her Great-Aunt Lan and Cousin Sage to prepare to audition for the Royal Magic Academy, she’s apprehensive while still excited because her imagination has run wild about what it’ll be like. Sadly, Sophie’s dreams are quickly shot down when she overhears her Great-Aunt Lan speaking badly about her right after they first met. To top things off, she’s not even practicing magic. All she’s doing is a bunch of chores they claim will be the foundation to learning how to harness her magic. Finally, when Sophie has had enough, she decides to show her family what she’s capable of. Unfortunately for her, the spell quickly gets out of hand, and she finds herself nearly drowning and accidentally erasing the memory of a water dragon, possibly putting everyone she loves in danger.

This is such a cute and heartwarming story that has beautiful artwork. I loved seeing the story come to life through the images. If it wasn’t for the fact that this is a graphic novel, it’d almost feel like I was watching an animation. That’s how great the flow of the story went with the stunning artwork.

We follow Sophie, a young girl who is under pressure to do great at her audition for the Royal Magic Academy. Through the story, we watch her go from being obsessed with proving that she’s talented and useful to discovering what she actually wants is different from what her mother and grandmother want for her. I could relate to her because growing up, I was pressured into thinking all the goals I had were all things I wanted. At some point, I realized the reason I was so miserable was because all my goals were not anything I chose for myself. They were goals selected for me.

While this is a fictional fantasy book, I think that Sophie’s story is an important one, especially for children. Sophie doesn’t just realize that she’s taking a route that she doesn’t want for herself by auditioning for the Royal Magic Academy. She also learns what she’s capable of, what her talents are, and what she wants for herself. It’s an important message for kids, and it’s even better if they also have people who support them just like Sophie does when she puts her foot down and makes a major decision about her future.