Kiki's delivery service by Eiko Kadono illustrated by Joe Todd Stanton translated by Emily Balistrieri

In the world of this story, when witches reach the age of ten, they must decide whether to follow the family tradition and live as witches themselves.  Kiki's mother is a witch skilled in using herbs to make sneeze medicine and she can use her broomstick for flying. Kiki's dad is human with an interest in folklore. At age ten, Kiki decides she will follow her mother and become a witch but over the years it seems witches' powers are become weaker. Kiki has no skill with herbs but at least she can fly so on her coming of age day, at the start of her thirteenth year, it is time for Kiki to leave. Her task is to find a new town or village in need of magic. 

Kiki sets off with her cat companion Jiji. Her journey takes her to the town of Koriko where she sets up her delivery service. You will enjoy discovering all the quirky, heartfelt and even strange things she is asked to deliver. I especially enjoyed the day Kiki goes to the beach.

Blurb: "Witch in training Kiki and her cat Jiji are determined to find their own way in the world. Kiki isn't great at spells so she sets up her own magical flying delivery service, using her broomstick to deliver all over their new town. But there always seems to be trouble in the air."

Kiki's delivery service would make a great book as a family or class read aloud book because each chapter is reads like a short story. 

Families looking for a book to share will appreciate the episodic chapters. An enchanting, gently humorous all-ages family read-aloud. Kirkus

Eiko Kadono was inspired to write this story after she saw a drawing done by her then twelve year old daughter of a witch flying through the sky, listening to a radio. Eiko wanted to her witch character to have just one magical power - in this case flying - allowing Kiki to use her brain power to solve problems. 

First came the book in Japanese with the title Majyo no Takkyubin in 1985 by Hans Christian Andersen award winner Eiko Kadono; then came the anime film from Studio Ghibli; and now, hooray, Penguin Random House have published an English translation with illustrations and a really cute cover by Joe Todd Stanton. I have discovered this is not the first English translation. There was one done in 2003 by Annick Press and illustrated by Akiko Hayashi.

You can see another English version and read an extract and listen to an audio sample here.

Versions of the story about Kiki are also available in Italian, Swedish, Chinese, Indonesian and French. In Japan there are five books about Kiki and her delivery service. Here are three of them:

Here are some images from the Anime version of this story:

A most magical girl by Karen Foxlee

"the Morever Wand must be retrieved form its hidden resting place in Under London by the youngest and most able member of the society; preferably, a most magical girl."

A most magical girl is short listed for our CBCA Awards this year.  I am fairly sure it will receive a prize - yes it is that good.  You will feel at times that you are drowning in a cold underground river, crawling into tiny spaces, hiding from an enormous hungry dragon and smelling the rotting food hoarded by trolls.  You will also grimace as the evil maniac Mr. Angel feeds his Dark-Magic extracting machine all manner of sadness and horror from the fog filled streets of Victorian London.

You can read about the plot of this book on some of the links to reviews below.  I thought it might be more useful if I share some text quotes which will show you aspects of this writing.

Detailed character descriptions :

Kitty - "Her head was held low, a furious frown upon her face, and there was not an inch of tidiness to her. Her wet black curls were tied roughly with a piece of twine, and a brown leaf dangled on a strand beside her ear."

Mr. Angel the wizard - "He had very dark eyes, which were sad, probably the saddest eyes she had ever seen, with very long lashes. He had a largish nose and a mouth that was rather lopsided, one side sneering, one side melancholy. ... He was sad and lonely-looking. He was wicked-looking."

"three shadowlings ... dreadful things, made of nothing yet brimming with wickedness, sleeping shadows bought to life with his dark magic."

All manner of smells permeate this story :

"Hafwen smelled of the earth and unwashed clothes and deep dark places, and for reasons Annabel did not understand, this was comforting."

You can really see the scenes and I do think this book would make a fabulous movie :

"It was a mean street, the buildings leaning, holding each other up like a mouthful of rotten teeth."

"Outside, she could hear London : horses' hooves and carriage wheels, the lowing of cattle and ... somewhere, someone wailing."

"Then the broomstick stopped. ... Then it shot forward at great speed. ... It hurled through a church nave door and careered back out again. It skidded beneath a bridge. It fishtailed between factory smokestacks. ... It hit the window, and the glass fell apart in great shards around them ... "

Little touches of humor:

"Surely they shouldn't be outside in such weather.  She'd catch a cold and take ill. A physician would be called for, and he'd say that nothing could be done.  Her story would be serialized in the Illustrated London News ... There would be illustrations."

"Annabel had played shuttlecock with Isabelle Rutherford ... Surely hitting a light orb was no different."

Chapter Headings 

One of the parts of this book that I absolutely adore are the little chapter headings - quotes from Miss Finch's Little Blue Book (1855).

"A young lady rises early, opens her windows, and delights in the pleasures of an industrious day." Chapter 2

"In education, geography is harmless, but too much history and politics can lead to a quarrelsome nature." Chapter 5

"No matter the heat, a young lady shall not remove her gloves in the ballroom." Chapter 17

The idea of drawing the map of Under London on Annabel's skin is also ingenious.

Here is a little warning.  At about page 270 I realised everything was not going to be resolved for Annabel and her wonderful betwixter friend Kitty and that I was going to have to wait for the sequel. I do hope Karen Foxlee has a plan for this but I cannot find any details yet.

I have already talked about Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy. I think A most magical girl is an even better book.  The tension is well maintained and the plot keeps moving swiftly. You will cheer for Annabel as she overcomes huge obstacles and shows great kindness especially towards the little troll Hafwen.

• Author web site.
• Kirkus review.
• Listen to an audio sample starting from page 93.
• Looking Glass review.
• You can buy this book from iTunes.
• Publisher site.

There are three double page illustrations in this book which mark the sections as the Dark Magic Gauge gains power.  I really like these dark illustrations and the front cover by Canadian Elly MacKay.

After reading A most magical girl I recommend you look for The book without Words, A very unusual pursuit, Barnaby Grimes and the curse of the night wolf, and Rooftoppers.