Hellaween

Lawton fashions a raucous All Hallows’ Eve tale with a cheeky Halloweentown vibe in this wickedly funny graphic novel debut. Teenage human witch-in-training Gwen—who lives in the mortal world and must hide her powers—is excited for the Halloween season. As the holiday approaches, the veil weakens between the human realm and the Hallowlands, a parallel supernatural dimension where her two best friends reside. This year, her pals—vampire Miles and werewolf Sloane—arrive with a gift for Gwen: a grimoire that the duo hope will help Gwen to create a worlds-spanning door for easier year-round travel. Meanwhile, Gwen’s paranormal-obsessed human peer Hiro is determined to track down the vampire he believes he once saw. When he learns about a supernatural prank that Gwen and company pull on unsuspecting high schoolers, Hiro seeks to expose the jokesters on his blog. Via angular, spindly limbed characters and shadowy atmospheric settings, Lawton explores themes of miscommunication and connection through the lens of a good-intentioned witch with a chaotic approach to problem-solving. Human characters are portrayed with varying skin tones. Ages 10–14. (Aug.)