Because the characters had no sense of urgency about the rabbits/portal, no suspense was built. Would love to know more about the villain. Assuming they come back in the sequel?

Sweet and wholesome graphic novel about magic and friendship - I really liked the illustration style and mix of characters!

An adorably illustrated middle grade graphic novel about a great group of supernatural best friends. I hope we see more stories set in this delightful world!

Nicely drawn graphic novel. The story is very fast paced and exciting. If you love supernatural elements and love to read graphic novels this book is for you. It can be read by children and adults alike. Very enjoyable read.

*Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group & NetGalley for this Ebook in exchange for my honest review

Another hit for kids from Stephaine Cooke. We read Oh My Gods! in a Tween Graphic Novel Round table. The kids loved it so much I picked up this book by the same author to add in this Fall. Let me tell you, and kids are going to love this silly, slightly spooky story- with Chaotic bunnies. I loved it so much I couldn't even make myself schedule it for Halloween. We're reading it in August. Like any good story, this one ages up, and I bet if you love Halloweentown, you'll adore this new title too.

Fans of teenage horror / autumn lovers will appreciate this graphic novel featuring a group of friends and their quest to save the world from a dimension of chaotic rabbits. Good illustrations and story though I felt it could have been a little edited it places to show more of the action.

Oh how excited I am for readers to meet this colorful cast of characters! Stephanie is so punny and charming, I had such a blast reading this middle grade graphic novel. I just found the book so delightful and witty … y’all definitely need this for a little bit of laughter in your day!

Imagine a crisp autumn day, hot beverage of choice in hand, a bit of wind rusting up the crunchy, dead leaves that have fallen from the color changing trees, a feeling of magic and change in the air. That is this book. It's witchy, diverse, full of friendship, joy, and humor.

I read this to see if it would make a good addition to the shelves of the school library I work in. On balance I think it might be a bit beyond our pupils. The illustrations are fantastic and our kids love a graphic novel but I think the story might baffle some of them as they are still young. One for the younger secondary kids I would say.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc to review.
Full disclosure: subject matter and style are not my typical cup of tea! However, this is a super cute, excting story about a young witch named Abby and her three best friends Gita, Hannah, and Silas. When Abby accidentally opens a portal to a chaos dimension, well, chaos is unleashed in her hometown! She must learn how to trust herself - and her friends - in order to bring order back to their lives.

There were a couple parts that weren't fleshed out enough for me - the possible bullying of Abby's little sister Ella, for example, seemed like a plot point but was never addressed.

It sounds like Ms Cooke has given herself an opportunity for a second in the series, looking forward to that!

I received an electronic ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group through NetGalley.
Abby's magic goes a bit haywire and she opens a portal to another realm releasing Chaos Bunnies in North Haven. This is just as disastrous as it sounds. Her friends support her as she tries to solve this herself. Along the journey, readers see Abby meet her ancestor who gives her wisdom, see her find her courage after talking with a close friend, conquer her fears, take control of her magic, defeat another ancestor luring her to darker paths, and close the portal including returning all the bunnies and the darker ancestor. Cooke shows Abby learning to ask for help - a universal lesson that middle grade readers need reinforced. She also shares the struggles each of the characters experiences. Each has weaknesses and has to find inner strength and support from others to tackle issues. We do see a romance start for Abby with Gita so there is an LGBTQ+ theme weaving softly through the story. The artwork merges with the text to create the overall story arc. Readers see character expressions to further understand what they are feeling beyond their words. Looking forward to more adventures with this group.

This is a delightful and fun book about what it means to start growing up and being true to yourself. Abby Morgan is a young witch, still learning her powers, and helps her mom at their café the Witch's Brew. Abby taking the garbage out one night, tries to protect her sister from bullies, and instead accidentally opens a portal to the realm where the chaos bunnies live. They get loose, and chaos reigns. Abby works with her friends, and eventually her mother, to help solve the problem and save North Haven from the bunny terror. I did enjoy Silas's constant tirade about Pumpkin Spice Lattes being the worst thing ever. While this does have a diverse cast, including a small nod to the LGBTQ community, I felt that we missed a bunch of development from the characters as there were only snippets of those other than Abby. I was also sad that there was all this sibling fighting between Abby and Ella, but we know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about Ella as a character. Why was she in the alley, why were the bullies picking on her, why does Abby keep telling her to go away because they'll play later and then never does? Look, I love a good sibling relationship, and this just didn't have one. I think this will appeal to most magical fans even if it doesn't have a lot of world building.

The author builds a uniquely diverse world filled with different types of characters, from mummies and witches to were-creatures and pumpkin-heads. Abby’s Dad lives with the “reclusive covens” rather than with united supernaturals in the havens. The protagonists never face any truly violent threats, just the results of Abby’s own act that endangers the world as chaos bunnies start pouring through the gate!

Everyone is supportive and positive, and no one gets eaten by the killer rabbits (darn it). This story is perfect for younger kids who need an engaging story to induce calm and confidence. It’s a safe magical place for a distraction when anxiety looms in real life.

I loved the worldbuilding in this graphic novel! The blend of a basically "normal" world with paranormal characters and situations is so fun. I can't wait to see what other books come out set in this world!

This whole graphic novel was so sweet. Chock full of diverse characters and solid world building, ParaNorthern is the story of a young witch, Abby, who accidentally opens a portal to another world when on her shift at her family's coffee shop. Armed with her magic and the love and support of her friends, Abby must find the strength and gather the knowledge to close the portal before her whole town is taken down by the kooky, fluffy creatures that live inside of it.

The graphic novel could easily be a standalone, though I'm wondering if it will continue in other volumes. While I truly enjoyed reading it, I did feel that elements of the plot were maybe a touch rushed and things were tied up a bit too neatly. This could easily be resolved by telling more about the world through more stories about the coffee shop friends.

This was a solid 3.5 for me. I will definitely be recommending it to many of my younger patrons.

There will be undoubtedly be fans of this book. It is playful, funny, diverse and magical-plus, chaos bunnies! I was not completely enamored of this book (some parts of this just seemed too choppy and underdeveloped for me), but kids will love the silliness of it all.

For Libraries: If you have fans of Okay Witch or Snapdragon, this is a great addition.

Notes: LGBT+ (subtle and sweetly done), one brief pre-mention of se- (which is literally how it cuts off: "urges that involve attraction and se--").

ParaNorthern centers around a group of friends trying to find a way of getting some truly dangerous chaos bunnies back into the portal they came from. A portal that Abby, a young witch, unleashed accidentally after she tried to comfort her upset sister. Although the initial event which created the portal happened rather quickly (I would have liked more time to get to know Abby) I enjoyed how Abby grows into her powers. She is very resistant in receiving help from her friends but they support her no matter what. Her friends Gita, Hannah, and Silas are fun to follow along with. Gita, the were-girl, has a crush on Abby. She also has parents who are therapists which comes to play in the story. Hannah is sort of a ghost and has a backstory of being an immigrant in this world. She was always forgetting to put on a charm that would make her solid. I thought her and Silas were the funniest ones out of the group. I loved Silas', the Pumpkin Head, entrance. He's of course against anyone eating or drinking anything with pumpkin in it and isn't treated all that nice by others. I would absolutely love to see a story with him as a main lead and another one with Hannah.

The art was really fun. There were times where Silas' head would be bigger than usual or someone else's features would get exaggerated. Overall, I thought ParaNorthern was really fun and lighthearted. Each character seemed to be dealing with something serious but it didn't overshadow the lightheartedness of this graphic novel. I did think the portal opening was very fast and the thing about Abby's ancestry wasn't needed. However, I would read more of these characters' story. I am hoping there is a sequel. I would recommend this if you are looking for a Halloween vibe or if you liked The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner.

4 stars. Thank you Netgalley for the arc. This was a super cute graphic novel about a group of friends who unwittingly unleash chaos bunnies (yep - bunnies) onto their town and have to find their inner magic to stop it.

This was a really cute graphic novel and very easy to read. It is about a witch named Abby who when she sees her little sister sitting next to the trash bins after being bullied by speed demons, she tries to comfort her and ends up accidently opening a portal to a chaos bunny dimension but she doesn’t realize until the next day that anything happened and now they need to figure out how to close the portal before the chaos bunnies wreck the town. I really liked the art style of the graphic novel and while I normally don’t read graphic novels this was easy to navigate and how they all worked together to finally figure out why abbys power was so spotty and that she had to choose to use it for good and don’t let selfish wants taint her magic. Just a really fun read.

Thanks to HMH Childrens book Group and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

Abby Morgan’s magic glitches and lets chaos bunnies from another dimension into their small town. Rather than ask for help, Abby wants to figure out how to get them back through the portal and save her town. What isn’t Wally apparent is how much destruction the chaos bunnies cause and why Abby won’t ask for help. The “I broke it, so I’ll fix it” plea doesn’t seem plausible. She has a good relationship with her mom and friends, so why doesn’t she ask them for help with the portal instead of just putting them off? Readers who like stories about magic, witches, and seances may like the story, but discerning readers may get bored and pass.