I was looking for a cozy book after finishing the first two books in the Farseer trilogy, and this is just what I needed. Translated from Japanese, it follows 13-year-old witch Kiki. The tradition in her world is for witches to travel to a new town that does not already have a witch at some point after turning 13 and establish a life there, and they can’t go home for a year. Kiki’s magical ability is that she can fly on a broom. She lands in the town of Koriko, accompanied by her supportive and occasionally snarky cat Jiji, and establishes something of a barter-based delivery service.
Aside from the (early) Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books, I haven’t read a middle grade book as an adult, and it took some time to adjust to the simplicity of both prose and plot, but once I settled in, I enjoyed it. I love that there is no villain in this book. The conflicts are centered around Kiki’s new life and growth as a person. However, there are some serious themes in the book, though they’re handled in a light way. Kiki faces some prejudice because the townspeople aren’t familiar with witches, but eventually they get used to her, and she adjusts to the customs of this new town.
The prose is not particularly descriptive or evocative, which makes the exceptions to that stand out all the more, such as “But now [the sun] pounded down ruthlessly, as if taking aim and hurling itself.” I appreciated moments like that. There are also black and white illustrations scattered throughout the book, which I loved:
I’m not going to rate this book. As a middle grade book that wasn’t written for me, I’m not sure I can rate it fairly. But I will say that I’m glad I read it. It was cute and cozy, and I’m hoping to watch the movie sooner than later.