Benjamin Dickson

This is the first book in a new graphic novel series that follows Daisy, who is a witch who sells potions, cures and charms with her mom. This story is set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The Queen’s royal witch has died and Daisy sees a poster looking for the next witch that will protect the Queen. However, Daisy’s mother forbids her for trying out for the position. This doesn’t stop her, though and she goes to try out. She isn’t from “good family” so she is denied from even trying out. She sleeps outside of the palace and in the morning a soldier offers her a job as a palace maid. In her bedroom she discovers a rat who she can talk to.

She meets Doctor Dee inside the palace and he gives her permission to join the try outs to be the royal witch. The other girls in the group start to bully her because they only see her as a maid. When the girl tells the rat this, he offers to be her familiar. The rat introduces Daisy to a human friend of his, Valentyne. Valentyne helps her with her magic, and Daisy starts to become better than the other girls that are trying out. Of course they don’t like that and become even meaner to her. Daisy falls for one of their pranks and as a result gets banned from the try outs.
When the chosen royal witch fails to perform her new duties, Daisy is able to help. Unfortunately by doing this, she has made an enemy who is out to get their revenge, which sets up the story for the second book in this series.

I enjoyed the fact that before the story starts, the reader gets some quick background on Queen Elizabeth I. It really helped envision the setting of the story, which is key to the target audience.… (more)