Oddly is still in the land of Fignation, where her mother grew up. She is staying with her aunt as they try to figure out what happened to Oddly's parents when she made her birthday wish and they disappeared. How can they find them and get them back? Her first time at the nearby middle school didn't go very well and several students seem to be out to kill her or at least scare into returning to the real world. In this second collection (issues #6-10), Oddly visits her new friends Reggie, Ragnar, and Misty and receives a birthday gift from the boys. It seems that their father worked for Dr Frankenstein and continued on with his experiments; Oopie is one of his creations and bonds with Oddly when she picks it up. As she starts her first full week at Menagerie Middle School, things don't seem to have changed much, but it is funny to see the kids who attacked her on the way home from school last week sporting bandages and crutches. Will those who are trying to get rid of her make another attempt? On a positive note, she does get invited to a Rocketball game that Reggie's team is playing. We will have to wait for issue #11 to see how the game goes.
Oddly's story shows the feeling of not belonging and being out of sorts that many tweens and teens experience, but she has very identifiable reasons for those feelings. After all, she is half-human and half-witch, she has pointy ears and green hair, no one from her school in the real world has ever attended her birthday parties, and she never got to meet any of her grandparents. It would be hard not to feel "odd" under those circumstances, and to perhaps wish for things to change. But she does have support from her new friends, her aunt, and her companion Oopie as she tries to get her parents back and repair her life. It is encouraging to see that she still has kindness and compassion for others, despite how she has been treated in the real world and in Fignation. These are great books for fans of comics and graphic novels of all ages.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher for review purposes.
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