Someday's Dreamers Volume 1
Grade 8 Up–A book with a unique premise, a host of reliably appealing manga elements, and high-quality artwork. Yume travels to Tokyo to begin her magic-user classes. As soon as she steps off the train, she gets into trouble for using her magic too frivolously; the government pays magic users to alleviate suffering, like restoring severed limbs and resurrecting dead children. Unlike other stories that have magic-wielding teens as major characters, this title provides a larger overview that explains how the characters fit into the world around them. There are plenty of winsome, long-haired boys to make the teen blush and trip over herself, and Yume does not resemble the typical manga girl lead: she has shorter hair and is rather plain. The plotline has some tender moments, centered on a lost child and a lost love, which are unusually serious for manga. This title is one of the sharper and more intelligent offerings in the genre.–John Leighton, Brooklyn Public Library, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.