I loved the premise but I wasn’t a fan of the artwork. I found it difficult to keep track of all the characters and some of the storylines were difficult to follow. However, I enjoyed the ending. I wish I had seen more of that thrill during the rest of the story.

This graphic novel is jam-packed with representation- cultural diversity, LGBTQ+ characters, and deafness all full the pages of this magical read. Read this book if you are looking for a group of witches who face adversity in different arenas and come together to engage in racing competitions on brooms. The coloring is bold and rich. The illustrations are ok, but a bit too 2-dimensional for my taste. This book didn’t pull me in as I’d hoped, so it’s more of a middle of the road rating. I’m grateful to NetGalley for the digital copy to review, and perhaps I might have a different reading experience with a physical copy of this book.

Brooms is an exciting and diverse graphic novel about an underground network of magic broom racers. It follows a group of women who use flying to escape from their everyday troubles and have a chance to use their magic. It tackles the issues of race and gender discrimination in the past, that still unfortunately continues today. I enjoyed that there were many ethnicities and types of queer people represented. I also enjoyed the artwork very much.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Levine Querido, and Arthur A. Levine for access to this absolutely fantastic arc!

5/5 stars!

This was such a great graphic novel. The art was beautiful, the story was entertaining with its magical elements as well as haunting with everything drawn from real life (residential schools, racism, etc), and the queer and BIPOC representation was just so so fantastic. The very very very last page made me cry, I won't say why just that it's beautiful and so touching!!! I loved this so much!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me this eArc (and ARC) to review.

Tw for: racism, residential schools, violence/injury (mainly from broom riding), police essentially being like ICE

This is a beautifully drawn, coloured and lettered graphic novel with a plot where it focuses on friendships, love and trying to make it in 1930s Mississippi. It has a brilliantly diverse cast of characters with women of colour at the forefront. There is disability, trans and lesbian/wlw representation as well.

I really enjoyed the story, the characters and just everything in it.

Omg such a cool book, I wish I had this kind of book growing up. A super fun read and would’ve loved to see it in color (limited by my kindle). Maybe the most diverse characters, appreciated the Indian sign language and not translated Cantonese.

This was such a cute graphic novel full of love and happiness through the racism that they had to face. It features trans, lesbians, and disabled representation.

This book discusses heavy topics such as racisms and oppression.

I loved everything about this book, the main character were so likeable and easy to love. The art style was remarkable. The only thing I wish is for this to be longer. Also loved how we got some scenes of them as grown ups and to see what their future were.

Thank you NetGalley and Levine Querido for providing me an arc for a honest review!

The art in this book was absolutely amazing!!! I loved getting to see the beautiful work through out that complemented the story beautifully. This is definitely a must read, the diversity and representation present in this book was amazing to see and I hope to see more books like this in the future!

This was a beautiful graphic novel about a diverse magical broom racing team set in the early 1900s. I loved the storyline and all the characters were so lovely! Also there’s a broom racing team named Enbious made up of all nonbinary folks and I’m obsessed lmao.


🌈 Queer rep: Main - lesbian/queer mc, trans woman mc. Secondary - nonbinary, lesbian, trans woman

Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for giving me an ARC (eGalley) to review. Always excited to read new works!

Brooms by Jasmine Walls and illustrated by Teo DuVall is a graphic novel with a fun and heart-warming journey following a diverse cast of characters.

Walls creates a world where magic is real but an older magic that is found amongst a diverse group of individuals is made illegal by the government. Once young individuals show signs of having magic, the government agents whisk these young children away to a magic academy that restricts their natural magic and is altogether unkind. There is one space where those harboring this magic, who haven't been whisked away by the government, can practice and show off, and that's at the broom races. When young girls Mattie and Emma develop magic, their family must keep the girls hidden until they can earn enough money to pay off the agents. That's when a member of the family, Luella, suggests the girls join the broom races to earn money. The girls then learn how to harbor their magic and fly on brooms from Luella's friends and the novel dives further into the stories of all those involved in keeping these girls safe.

Brooms is releasing just in time for fall and I highly recommend cozying up with this graphic novel with a warm cup of tea and maybe some tissues!

What I Enjoyed:

1. The cast of characters in Walls' graphic novel is both diverse and fun. There are characters of different races, from different but similar cultural backgrounds, those with a physical disability, one of the young girls is deaf, there is a trans femme character, two women in love, and more. This level of representation is great, especially for younger readers! Each character also has a fun and unique characterization and an engaging backstory.

2. The story is fast-paced and makes for a quick read! Yet the world is still interesting and engaging. If you're looking for a quick but meaningful read, this graphic novel is perfect.

3. In the creator's notes, Walls explains how she wanted to represent history accurately through a magical world and underrepresented characters. Walls' desire in this graphic novel to represent different minority groups, the oppression these groups face, and the joy of these groups are visible and present throughout the story. Walls beautifully represents these groups through a fantasy world and a magical lens. While I was able to see this representation clearly, I would still recommend giving Walls' "Creator's Notes" at the end a read for a better understanding of the world and passion behind the graphic novel.

4. The ending and epilogue of Brooms made this such a heart-warming story. The ending was satisfying and cute. It made me tear up in the end! Make sure you don't put down the book once you reach the acknowledgments, because if you keep scrolling (or turning the pages) past that, there is a beautiful epilogue that shows what happens to all the characters as they grow older, up to their old age. The ending made me tear up but the epilogue made me tear up even more!

How It Could Be Improved:

1. The art of this graphic novel is rather simple. You're reading this more for the story than the art. But the simple style is still beautiful and seems purposefully simple. The simple design allows for the story to shine and be the star of the show. However, if you read graphic novels for the art, this one is more focused on the story than on the art.

2. The start of the story made me think the two young girls, Mattie and Emma, would be the focus of the story yet they exist more to drive the plot along. The real focus is on Luella and her companions, which still makes for a great story but is not the impression I got when I started reading. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed all the characters!

3. This is a short read! And I do love short reads and the length of the graphic novel does work well with the story being told. But it does feel as if there's such an interesting world that Walls built that isn't fully explored in the length of this graphic novel. I wonder if Walls would consider writing more graphic novels set in the Brooms world, as I can see much potential there.

I don’t read a lot of graphic novels, so this was a real treat. A beautifully drawn story of camaraderie and found family, fighting against incredible odds, and never giving up, set in the world of illicit magical broom racing. Wonderful world building with lots of diversity. I highly recommend it!

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

A really good read. I loved this a lot. It was so good and fun! I wouldn't say it is my most favorite book ever, but it had its bits that I really enjoyed! The characters were all themselves and I liked that a lot.

CONTENT NOTE: Anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity, trauma, residential schools, law enforcement, physical and mental violence, fall from heights

Brooms is an absolute treasure of a comic! The story takes us to a reimagined historical Mississippi where a community of magical women and girls literally race to protect one another, teaching magic to the younger ones and navigating complex and dangerous social situations while staying true to themselves. Full of heart and a deep sense of care for both its characters and its readers, this beautifully illustrated comic is a must-read for all fantasy lovers!

What Worked for Me:
Y'all, this one made me cry so many times, so you know it's gonna be a good one! 🥹
✦ The thing I love most about this book is the care its creators took. Jasmine Walls' dedicated research and the team's work with communities to accurately and respectfully portray so many people of marginalized backgrounds really shines through in particular, and it honestly was so heartwarming to read this amazing book!
✦ There are so many wonderful surprises in the book that I don't want to spoil for you because they take tropes that we're so accustomed to seeing and flip them upside down in the best of ways.
✦ As a queer, trans, and disabled person, it was truly so meaningful to see the kind of representation this book gave us as an audience, and in important ways, too.
✦ I love the way trans identity is handled in this book. I can't say more than that without spoiling anything, but if the creators ever read this, I hope they'll know how much it meant to me to see this kind of representation at every step of the way! Their own life experiences and their respect and love for trans people really shine through, and I'm grateful for what I got to see in this comic.
✦ The presence of so many disabled people, both visibly and not, in particular was so amazing and heartwarming to see! This is another thing that I absolutely adored about this book was seeing disability being included as the norm and even seeing adaptive devices within magical settings was just-- chef's kiss! This is the kind of disabled representation I want more of in fantasy, where the disability is not magicked away with a spell/cure but is instead accepted and adapted for.
✦ I love that the characters were given complex, fully realized lives and identities even while dealing with systematic oppression. Something I feel that a lot of media sometimes falls into is this idea that if a character is facing marginalization, especially if more than one kind of marginalization, then that character has no room left to be human, complex and nuanced. They often become ONLY their struggle, while this book gave them the autonomy, letting them lead their lives as human beings and not just the struggle they face.
For example, the characters were free to be disabled AND to race in a high stakes broom race! (Let's not even forget to mention that there were MULTIPLE types of disabled characters doing this!) And this wasn't just with disability, this was across identities, and it was truly a delight to see!
✦ The art was so lovely! I really enjoyed the character designs and the colors in particular, and I was so happy to see so many body types represented, too-- and older people! It felt like a believable world that I had been dropped into with a rich diversity of characters both in the main cast and in the background characters' designs.
✦ I really enjoyed the inclusion of cultural practices and languages in here that weren't white and English, too. I love the depth this gives the world and the characters, and I always appreciate seeing characters of backgrounds different to my own shown in comics. I don't want stories that just cater to my experiences as a white person, so this made me really happy to see.
✦ I also really enjoyed seeing a story where white people were not portrayed as well-intentioned individuals who just made mistakes or just don't know better. It was refreshing to see a comic showing the systematic and predictable nature of whiteness in action and talking about it as such.
✦ The lettering was really clear and easy to read, even on a smaller scale with the ARC I received that didn't format the pages to fit to the screen size (which I expect is an ARC-specific measure of protection, not a a digital version-specific issue), which I appreciated!
✦ I know I mentioned the colors already, but truly-- THE COLORS. They felt so magical! I loved how many scenes were at twilight and dusk, giving us that anything is possible feeling that comes with the time in between day and night. The cozy palette also gave us a sense of intimacy and comfort that I quite enjoyed.
✦ I was happy to see a Deaf character included, as well as Indian Sign Language (as described in Jasmine Walls' creator notes), and was heartened by Walls' acknowledgement in the creator notes about lip reading not being a realistic method of communication. However, as a hearing person, I encourage people to seek out the reviews of Deaf readers, particularly those who speak Indian Sign Language of the book for a more nuanced review of the depiction here.
✦ I enjoyed the magic aspects of the story, too! It was an interesting exploration of the ways magic is taught and how it would be approached in a setting such as 1930s segregated Mississippi, as well as the various kinds that exist. I would have loved to see it explored even more in the book, to be honest, especially the kind shown later on in the book. It was also interesting to see the characters' adaptation to not being given access to certain kinds of magic and the ways they would create access for themselves in the face of it.

What Didn't Work for Me:
✦ The story could be a little bit slow at times for me, to be honest, particularly in the middle. I thought there was a bit of repetition with some parts of the story that could have been perhaps condensed down a bit to help the pacing. But it's still interesting and engaging enough to keep me reading!
✦ I felt that there were some moments with the art that felt a bit "talking heads" without much visual action to give the reader to observe. I think this also contributed a bit to the slowing down of the pace at points because when the characters were engaged with something visually, I felt the pace pick up a lot more!

Overall
I give Brooms 4.5 out of 5 speech bubbles, rounding up to 5: This book is such a magical read for so many reasons, and its focus on community care and queer identities is one that will leave a lingering impression on the hearts of those who read it.

How to Read It:
Interested in checking it out for yourself? Brooms comes out October 3rd, and you can pre-order a copy from Bookshop, your local comic book store, or Barnes & Noble.

Hardcovers provide higher royalties for writers and illustrators, but a royalty is a royalty, so go forth knowing your purchase will support them either way!

Read This Next:
If you liked this, check out Wash Day Diaries, Darlin' and Her Other Names - Part 1: Marta, and Atana and the Firebird

If you enjoyed this review, I have a monthly comic review series called More Comics Please! on my website with interior page excerpts and additional information not shared here on Goodreads, as well as digital comics that don't qualify for Goodreads' library. You can sign up to receive them in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter Into the Bramble.

I absolutely loved everything about this book. The art, the diversity, and the fun of racing! I will definitely be recommending this to everyone.

An interesting read of fantasy and historical and contemporary kind of in one. It was good to see a lot of representation in this book. The handling of race and queer topics through the fantasy of witches was really well done. I am not sure if it was intended but the story gave parallels to the Indigenous Residential School system in Canada so this was a very timely and good read for handling these topics.

Brooms is the story of two girls learning how to do magic in secret from government officials, a family trying to keep their kids away from the magic (residential) schools, a woman who's captain of her illegal broom racing team, found family, and supportive bio families.
This is one of those great stories that discusses serious issues in an accessible way, and also gives a hopeful ending. We all know the history already, but we don't know Billie Mae, Luella, Emma, or Mattie's stories yet--and they're some happy-ending ones.
I loved the little photo montage at the end where we got to see all of the characters grown up and having successful careers, but I wish it was a little closer to the end, rather than hidden after the authors note, acknowledgements, and all that other stuff, because I almost missed out on it.
This story was one that contains lots of representation, and I think there's really a space for everyone to see themselves in this story. There's a trans (mtf) character, black characters, indigenous characters, mixed-race characters, deaf characters, and queer characters that make up the main cast of people. I think it was really awesome to see all these characters who typically aren't pictured in stories set when this graphic novel was set.

I loved this book. I was an amazing story and the illustrations were just beautiful. Can't wait to get a physical copy for my bookshelves.

A story set in the 1930's South. Everything is the same as normal history except there is magic. Given that everything else is the same, minorities are not allowed to practice magic just like the rest of the racist practices of the time period. So they have underground broom races like the underground race circuits of the time period. I do think the authors struggled a little too hard for all kinds of inclusion. There's a deaf girl, queer girls, someone who is trans in addition to all of the heroes being minorities. I'm all for inclusion but it's all too accepted for the time period and there's no struggles. If you are going to write a period book, those prejudices should be dealt with instead of ignored.

**Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5** (rounded up to 5)
I am constantly impressed by how sophisticated graphic novels like *Brooms* can so clearly articulate important conversations like those about race and queerness in ways that many other formats struggle to grasp.

Part fantasy, part historical fiction, Brooms is a beautifully written and illustrated graphic novel that centers on a cast of engaging cast of magical characters in 1930s Mississippi as they train to compete in the competitive, but unsanctioned, broom races. Their reasons for racing and challenges vary: Billie Mae and Loretta are hoping to win so they have enough money to escape the persecution of non-white witches in Mississippi; Cheng-Kwan feels she can express herself in racing in a way she can’t at home as her parent’s “perfect son”; young Mattie and Emma hope to connect to their witchy heritage while evading detection that could have them sent away to “boarding schools” for non-white witches; and Luella hopes to protect her young cousins even with her powers bound by the government. Together, they work to overcome challenging circumstances and face seemingly insurmountable odds to try and win a race that could change their lives forever.

I was in love with the illustrations in Brooms, and was so invested in the cast of characters—I was rooting for them all! This book has so many great lessons about friendship, love, solidarity, and care that I think many readers will connect with. All of our characters had such compelling stories, my only wish was that this book was even longer to give some of the character arcs more space to develop (Cheng-Kwan’s story, in particular).

I would recommend this book to all of my middle and high school students, and many adults will also appreciate this work. I’m so excited by the storytelling happening in this medium, and I look forward to adding it to my school library’s collection!

**Acknowledgments & Disclaimers**
✨ Thank you, NetGalley and Levine Querido, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book.
✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

This was such a touching graphic novel with the most gorgeous artwork. I love a witchy read and this one did not disappoint, I found it equally enjoyable and emotional. There was also a lot of great representation throughout. This is a must add to your TBR, not only for spooky season but for all year round. I cannot recommend this beautiful graphic novel enough.