My Aunt Is a Monster

Starred review from August 1, 2022
After losing her parents and home to a fire, book-loving Safia Haziz is taken in by distant aunt Walteranne Hakim Whimsy, a great adventurer turned idiosyncratic recluse. Safia, who is blind, can’t see that her aunt doesn’t appear human; instead, Aunt Whimsy is a monster with blue fur, three yellow eyes, ram-like horns, and taloned feet, cursed to this form following an adventuring incident. When news that Aunt Whimsy’s disappeared rival has suddenly resurfaced, Safia, ecstatic for the chance to travel the world, persuades Aunt Whimsy to come out of retirement. The two embark on a globe-spanning journey through zealously developed locales—including a forest-swallowed ancient city and an astoundingly large cruise ship—and meet unconventional explorers, such as gardening ghosts and pale, blond aspiring journalist Hebe. Vivid, flat-colored art by Yee (Séance Tea Party) bustles with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details and visual jokes, and the electric combination of layered paneling and sprawling spreads beg to be pored over. Brown-skinned Safia is an irresistible lead, and her innate sense of wonder and longing for adventure, even as she grieves the loss of her previous life, is heartwarming to the very last page. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jen Linnan, Linnan Literary Management.

September 9, 2022

Gr 4 Up-A gleeful adventure, exceedingly colorful and humming with life, as much about the idea of exploring as about the journey itself. Yee's central hero is the young, blind, and bookish Safia, sent to live with her distant aunt after a fire at her parents' bookstore leaves her orphaned. Aunt Whimsy, unbeknownst to sightless Safia, is a world-famous explorer who has gone into hiding due to a condition that's left her with the appearance of a three-eyed, curly-horned, gray-furred goat-woman. After Safia settles in with a whimsical cast of characters at her aunt's expansive estate, a rival's taunt beckons Whimsy out of retirement, and the crew sets out on their next adventure-Safia's first. Along the way Safia forms a new friendship, suffers betrayals, and finds her own knack for adventure and bravery. While the relationship dynamics woven throughout the story are meaningful, Yee's real zest and passion is for the imaginative creatures and fanciful locales. Swirling emotions become lightning strikes of neon, flashbacks are displayed as magazine clippings and newspaper articles, and hand-drawn maps, doodled notes, and other paper ephemera abound. The cast is primarily women and nonbinary characters, and Safia and Aunt Whimsy are people of color with Arabic names. The apex of their adventures occurs in a location that seems to be influenced by Hindu and Tibetan legend. VERDICT A heartfelt, high-energy, richly inked caper with plenty of pauses for legend-building, and a multi-faceted, fun read.-Emilia Packard

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2022
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Safia is heartbroken when her parents die in a fire that also consumes their winsome bookstore, but she finds a hopeful new beginning when she's sent to the home of her mysterious Aunt Whimsy. She is a retired explorer, who regales Safia with tales of her adventures and explains that, because of an unfortunate disfigurement, they can never leave their house. Safia, who's blind, can't see the truth: her aunt is literally a monster. Yee's saturated, jewel-toned color palette is dreamy, and she cleverly uses page layouts to note shifts in elements of the story. Her figures, with touches of classic mid-twentieth-century illustration style, appear in a refreshing variety of skin tones and body sizes and shapes. That gorgeous artwork tidily carries the plot through, and the plot is packed. Whimsy's nemesis announces their imminent archeological dig in the hidden city, where Whimsy was originally transformed, and Nanny (who, it turns out, is quite adept in her own right), a reluctant Whimsy, and Safia, delighted to finally be going on a real adventure of her own, embark on a quest to stop them and protect the city. Amplified by snippets of Whimsy's tabloidesque magazine of odd sights and occurrences from around the world, lots of high jinks keep the pace up, but Yee (Seance Tea Party, 2020) keeps her characters solidly grounded with realistic emotional turns. A few tantalizing plot threads leave room for a sequel (fingers crossed).

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