There’s a lot you go through when dealing with being a single mother, particularly when you have to make a major life change. For Lilly Brown who lives in Queens, NY, her mom’s problems have manifested through the oven into a place where a species is upset that the grease supply has been turned off. Micheline Hess’ ‘Malice in Ovenland’ is a unique adventure story that will have you reevaluating the food on your plate. Hess has created a world run by a despot that must be saved by a preteen black girl. The start of this graphic novel begins with Lily’s auspicious start of summer. Essentially, it’s ruined. She must do a massive amount of chores and extra homework. On top of that she must save the world created by the remnants of the oven.
Have you ever wondered what happens to the bits of food that get trapped in your stove? For Lily her story really begins when she falls through the oven. She quickly makes allies and formulates a plan to overthrow the ruling regime. Along the way, Lily learns several important lessons. For one thing, ghosts can be friendly and useful, rulers may only appear despotic, but most of all parents may sometimes be right. The core of this work lays in Hess’ light handed ability to show that the choices we make affect those we may never know exist. Lily’s mother has to change her diet and as a result the grease-laden foods that filled their senses and waistlines have gone. It’s been replaced with fruit and vegetables from her mother’s garden. Soups made with veggies may not be as appetizing as a double cheeseburger with fries at first. But when you see the queen’s royal guard you’ll be begging for squash soup. More important than a healthy diet is what Lily understands about her mother. The rules we set up for in life are to help not just ourselves but those around us.
Overall ‘Malice in Ovenland’ is a graphic novel filled with clever dialogue and likeable characters. Though there are several panels that overflow into each other, they aren’t cluttered with too much information. On one page Hess shows a large set of keys overlap into a series of panels of Lily. As she goes from crying to rage back to tears, you understand that the prison she’s trapped in is partly of her own making. And the ending isn’t contrived. Rather, it’s a culmination of the need to see and be the change you need to be in the world. Equally as important is the relationships that shape the graphic novel. No one character is all good or bad. Complexity in characters written for young people is tough to pull off and Hess accomplishes that. Stories need people to hear them or they’ll never be alive. However, you get the sense that these characters are still living on after you’ve closed this book.
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