Early Book Review: The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Book One: Spelling Trouble by Frank Cammuso

The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Book One: Spelling Trouble is a children's graphic novel by Frank Cammuso and is scheduled for release on October 1 2013. Salem Hyde is not like most of the other kids, she is stubborn, independent, impulsive, and just happens to be a witch. She tends to act before thinking, which gets her into some trouble. To help her learn to use her powers more responsibly Salem is assigned an animal companion, Lord Percival J. Whamsford III. This cautious cat does not like Salem calling him 'Whammy' or flying while Salem does not like hearing about what she should not be doing, and why. When Salem enters a Spelling Bee she discovers that the competition is about spelling words, not magic, but a simple misspelling can cause some serious havoc!

The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Book One: Spelling Trouble is a fun graphic novel for the elementary school set from the author you might already know from the Knights of the Lunch Table graphic novel series.Salem is a good kid with trouble using her words correctly, which make school and her spell work go wrong in a variety of ways. She honestly tries her best but her mistakes sometimes lead to magical disasters. She is a smart girl, and a good hearted one, but sometimes has trouble in the translation from head to action. I think that her struggles will help readers that are facing their own trouble with school work will particularly relate to Salem, while getting a laugh at the puns and jokes threaded through the story. To make the story even more engaging, the artwork is consistently bright and cheerful. I found this to be a great start to a new series.

I highly recommend The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Book One: Spelling Trouble to readers in elementry and middle school. Again, I think that seeing someone that is special, having magical powers, that has school and spelling troubles could help encourage those facing similar troubles to keep trying and how important spelling really can be. The second book in the series,  The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Book Two: Big Birthday Bash, is currently schedule for release on May 20 2014