Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen
Garlic has been enjoying her life with Agnes and all her new friends, but now she’s experiencing a new change. It appears that she may be slowly becoming human, but Garlic isn’t ready for that. Change is scary and Garlic isn’t sure she’s ready for change when she’s content with things as they are. On top of everything, she is nervously getting ready to embark on her next adventure: flying to the Magic Market. The furthest Garlic has ever traveled is to the Count’s nearby castle, and now she’s about to travel quite a distance from the valley she calls home. What is Garlic to do?!
I was very excited to see where Garlic would go next, and I’m happy to see that she’s both happily and nervously traveling! This time around, Garlic is dealing with change and learning to embrace it. It was also exciting to see the Garlic and all her veggie friends be created with the help of magic. It was great to see how far they’ve come as well as realize that magical evolution from sentient veggies to magical humans is the next step for these characters. Though, it was rather confusing to see Garlic panic about changes since I didn’t notice much of a difference at first, but I don’t think the age group these books are aimed at will notice this.
We also watch Garlic get ready for her first big adventure, which is even bigger than confronting the valley’s resident vampire. This time around, she’s flying with Count all the way to the Magic Market to buy a special ingredient that Agnes needs to create a blood substitute for the Count. We get to see the pair fly off into the distance and watch Garlic experience the world outside of the Valley she’s always known. Of course, it wouldn’t be an adventure without a hiccup, which leaves Garlic wondering what possessed her to leave home!
Without spoiling how things turn out, I think this is a great and entertaining story for all readers, especially for kids. There are some important lessons here and it teaches readers that change is a part of life. We can be scared of it, but it’s usually not so bad and we may discover that we come to embrace the changes life throws our way. I’m not sure if there will be any more stories following Garlic and her friends after this installment, but if a third book comes out, I know I’ll be picking it up right away.
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