Review by Frank Plowright

Sisters Kennedy and Devon have little in common and frequently fight, but something that unites them beyond a love of pizza is the annoyance of their infant sister Eve crying all night. When it happens yet again they hit on the idea of telling her a story, and that’s the basis of Story Spinners. It’s smart, thoughtful and uproariously funny.

Beginning with an explanatory framing sequence highlighting the difficulties of sisters getting on, Cassandra Federman switches from purple-toned pages to full colour for the story told. As shown by the sample art, Kennedy and Devon, who’s almost five years younger, have very different ideas as to what constitutes a good story, and Federman cleverly changes to a rougher style of art to show Devon’s contributions. It’s an immediately appealing procedure, with Devon sabotaging Kennedy’s attempts to tell a romantic story, which leads to the circumstances supplied by the subtitle of A Sisterly Tale of Danger, a Princess and her Crew of Lady Pirates.

It’s wonderful. The constant leftfield switches as Kennedy attempts to forestall Devon’s contributions make for very funny moments, and when they can agree, such as on Volcano Dragon Island, it’s even more creative. For that example Federman supplies a cutaway illustration of what actually exists within a volcano. The constantly changing circumstances will throw adults as much as children, and possibly moreso. It’s achieved by incorporating common aspects of fairy tales, then subverting them, such as Princess Sparklepuff offering herself up for capture by a dragon in order that a Prince will mount a rescue. Only she’s not the first to have come up with that idea.

You’re going to have to put aside expectations of Kennedy and Devon being realistic representations of their ages because the laughs are the priority, and that occasionally means they need to be smarter or more astute than they actually would be. It’s worth the leap of faith as the constant undermining of expectation is so delightful. Better still, Federman has a point to make beyond the laughs, and when it arrives it’s as surprising as anything beforehand.

There are a lot of all-ages graphic novels out there competing for attention these days, yet Story Spinners really stands out.