

Snap and Jacks’ sometimes bumpy student-mentor relationship forms the heart of the tale, but we also see the fierce love between Snap and her mother, despite her mother’s busy schedule.

(And yes, there’s another queer relationship in the book, but I won’t say any more than that, for risk of spoilers.) Notably, although Snap and Lulu are harassed by bullies, Lulu’s parents and Snap’s mom are all supportive of them. One could easily imagine that she comes out as queer in the future. Snap herself admits she’s not a “girly-girl,” but tells her mother, “I feel like a girl … I just don’t act right.” Her sexuality isn’t discussed, but her gender expression leans towards the masculine. Lulu’s gender transition (with Snap’s support and assistance) forms a secondary but clear storyline. Snap is bold, independent, and not particularly social, but she finds friendship with Lulu, another youth who lives in the same trailer park and shares a love of scary movies. She also discovers that Jacks, who exudes an old-school butch vibe, has a bittersweet connection to her own family. Snap later realizes that Jacks’ magic may be real, and wants to learn to do it herself. Snap ends up assisting Jacks with her skeletons, finding stimulation in learning their anatomy and keeping busy while her single mother both works and takes classes towards a degree. That’s weird, yes, but Jacks also knows how to care for live animals, and helps Snap’s injured dog and a litter of abandoned opossum babies that Snap finds. Snapdragon, by Kat Leyh, takes us through Snap’s growing friendship with Jacks, a Crocs-wearing, one-eyed old woman who cleans and sells the skeletons of roadkill online. But when Snap is forced to seek her help, she discovers there’s more to the witch, Jacks, than first appears, in a new queer-inclusive middle-grade graphic novel from one of the creators of the lauded Lumberjanes comics. She eats roadkill and casts spells with the bones,” or so the rumor goes.
