Misfit Mansion, an all-age graphic novel with just enough bite

Don’t judge a book by its cover. We all know that and I try, I really try to adhere to that mantra. However, with only so many hours during a week to read, it’s the cover that reels in one book over another. Misfit Mansion by Kay Davault is an all-age graphic novel that simultaneously embraces and keeps some of the clichés that live in neo-spooky books at bay. It’s surprisingly entertaining and will keep ages eight and up hooked with enough twists to keep things interesting. I say ‘surprisingly’ because it’s a graphic novel that snuck its way into our reading queue.

The cover looks like it was taken from the age of animation where Steven Universe lives. For a period of time, every graphic novel followed that template to a fault. All of the characters looked the same, with a majority of them being female and the males looking more effeminate than their brethren in the past. That’s more of an observation and to point out that books of any sort are targeted and sometimes their omitted target is more obvious than what it intends.

However, graphic novels of that sort were entertaining, but they had lots in common with everything around it. Misfit Mansion is cut very close to that cloth, but there’s something just refreshingly different about it to make it a fun read. That sounds like a backhanded compliment, and I don’t mean it to come off too much like one; we just didn’t realize that all-age graphic novels had slid into a cookie-cutter until recently and still might be feeling a bit bitter about it.

Think of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, but make the students monsters with some sort of super or magical powers. The misfit mansion is located somewhere in the northeast and there’s a fall festival happening in the near future. Because the town is scared of magic, the mansion’s residents are ordered to stay far away from the happenings. They hear all sorts of rumors about humans and wonder if they’re true, but are happy staying their distance away from them.

Iris is our main character; she’s a blue-haired, blue-skinned creature who receives stricter than usual instructions from the house’s caretaker. He says it’s for her own good, but teen monsters will be teen monsters and she sneaks out of the house. There are all sorts of monster hunters in town who believe the tall tales about there being a secret house in the forest where they all live. Sure enough, when Iris sneaks into town, she’s followed by one of the monster hunters who discovers their safe house.

Thankfully, the erstwhile ghost hunter gets scared witless by one of the residents and runs screaming out the house. What follows is a big, monstrous reason as to why Iris was kept isolated for so long by the mysterious man who takes care of the house. There are lessons galore and several instances where middle elementary ages and up will relate to things, and hopefully emulate the good behavior that the characters are learning from.

There’s also enough action to keep those reluctant readers engaged. Misfit Mansion is a thick graphic novel, and that’s a good thing. It doesn’t feel bloated or that pages were added to create a minimum page count. However, it could be intimidating to those in second grade, even though they’d certainly be able to handle the content.

There will be a demographic break in fourth grade for the book. Around that age those boy readers might break away either due to the art style or the absence of male characters. Girls, especially those manga-inclined girls in middle elementary and older will jump into Misfit Mansion and completely get lost in it. Even those boys who like manga might enjoy the story due to the characteristic big eyes and angles.

Misfit Mansion is an all-age graphic novel that will act as comfort food for those in middle school. It’ll be big-kid reading fun for those in elementary school and is a light, fun trip with monsters that’ll give off manga vibes for everyone else. It also has the feeling that it could become a great graphic novel series.

Mistfit Mansion is by Kay Davault and is available on Antheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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