Salt Magic by Hope Larson and illustrated by Rebecca Mock is an experience book. You read it, you have an experience. Mine is different from yours, and yours is different from the third guy’s reading. Things are if Alice in Wonderland met Wizard of Oz and something else…. I can’t put my finger on it. The artwork is the main character, though we are being told the story which is narrated, in text, by a young girl in the years right after World War I. We will have sugar highs and lows, salty experiences and the loss of innocence, childhood and the pain of realizing there is a lot of ugly out there, but family is good. Yet, your relationships will change, and not always for the better in some ways. There is some elder abuse, a moonshine still and a few “spooky moments” that are not for the younger or sensitive reader, but at the same time things are handled well and not exploited for gratuitous use.
The story itself is known with its child coming of age. It is the details that are slightly different from what we might be used to. Set in the late teens of the 1900’s we will explore many layers of a family and its dynamic. Vonceil Taggart is our young heroine who is spunky, selfish and really is the baby of the family. That is, until her beloved older brother comes home from war and her “11-year-older-twin” changes, as his past catches up with her present, and later, her future. 
The story has two layers. The first, oh isn’t this nice. A girl hops on her pony, has some adventures with salt and sugar witches, goes to a big crazy ball, and lives happily ever after. Only, this is where layer two comes in. This is where the coming of age takes place, the fact that Vonceil is growing up and there is more than meets the eye to everything. This is where the “oh this is a nice story/book/graphic novel” turned into, “What the monkey toots? This is way deeper than it started off as!” Larson really takes that jump of two years (it makes sense once you read it why two years have passed) and you realize how time goes by quickly, how we change, grow and loss is a huge part of life. This is when the adult reader goes, “Is this okay for my 10 and up child?” The 10-year-old can read it, and will get the surface, but the older reader will start to identify with Vonceil and her story arc.
Also, read the last few pages very carefully. Especially the artwork. Look at every detail. And one of the most powerful images and pieces I have ever read comes into focus and changed a three to a four rating.
