Review by Frank Plowright

There’s a considerate start to The Hungry Shadow as Emma Steinkellner ingratiates herself with readers who may come across the book in a library, and who haven’t read the first appearance of Moth Hush in The Okay Witch. Steinkellner supplies a synopsis via Moth’s combination of cat and dead Yiddish old friend, which isn’t as creepy as it sounds. Why don’t the second volumes of all young adult graphic novels do this?

At thirteen Moth has discovered she’s descended from a family of witches with a long heritage, is beginning to come to terms with what she can do, and has proved herself. However, while the first book was about discovery and exploration, school problems remain and to begin with here Moth has to endure teasing that borders on bullying, and it’s highlighted she’s the only non-white kid at her school. Magic is the obvious answer, except, as Moth’s mother explains, it’s not. It’ll just cause more problems.

Steinkellner sets up Moth’s problems astutely, drawing the chief tormentor as an especially slimy kid behaving badly in order that his eventual embarrassment is all the more satisfying. Another nice touch is pointing out how years of tradition impact on Moth. Inevitably, Moth at her age can’t resist using magic to better her position, but it’s achieved imaginatively as a song and dance routine, drawn with an appealing vitality.

As before, the story is separated into chapters, and there’s less magic than you might expect as Moth’s problems reflect those of her real world readers. It’s all so engaging that that readers will have forgotten there’s a hungry shadow mentioned in the title, and so it’s a surprise when it turns up. Will Moth succumb to the temptation of easy popularity at an unknown cost, or will she see sense? One hopes the young readers of The Okay Witch will never have seen Carrie, but Steinkellner brings matters to a head using a very similar situation. While scary, though, matters never reach the terrifying threshold.

This is even better than the opening volume for plotting a path forward that doesn’t involve magic to state the truth, although don’t worry, there’s enough magic beforehand. It’s so much fun, but Steinkellner seems to have ended Moth’s story here to focus on Nell of Gumbling.