DAY OF THE LIVING LIV

Big changes are in store for Liv.

“How does the world end?” Liv asks, melodramatically. “It ends with a box.” A moving box, that is. Liv, along with her mother, stepdad, and little sister, Amelia, leaves Pleasant Place for Gloomsdale. But their new home is spooky—a porch chair rocks on its own, sounds unnerve Liv’s cat in the night, and coffee is mysteriously ready all by itself in the morning. Things get weirder at Liv’s school, which is populated by ghostly children who exclaim, “It’s not every day we get a living girl!” Bats serve as hall monitors, and classrooms shift places. Though she gets off to a rocky start, Liv eventually finds herself beginning to enjoy her odd new school as she realizes that her new friends—Howl, a bespectacled, tan-skinned boy whose werewolf form is a small puppy, and Vera van Pire, a brown-skinned creature of the night—accept her just as she is. Clearly defined panels and clean-lined art, with Liv’s thoughtful observations shown in multiple text boxes throughout, create an easy-to-follow narrative that serves as a good setup for Liv’s future adventures in Gloomsdale. And though the story has supernatural creatures aplenty, things never get too scary. Liv, Amelia, and their mother are tan-skinned; Liv’s stepdad is darker-skinned.

A lively, mildly spooky mix of magic, ghostly goings-on, school drama, and friendship.