Middle grade fantasy graphic novel The Night Mother, Volume One by Jeremy Lambert, illustrated by Alexa Sharpe, and with additional design by Becca Carey was one of the titles on my 2024 book gift guide as a great pick for slightly older elementary school kids (ages 8-12), and I’d like to expand on that recommendation a little bit today. As I mentioned in the guide, this slim volume is “a full-color, gorgeously-illustrated series-starter of a graphic novel…that brings together: clocks, a girl who can hear the dead, and a ripping adventure story.”
Endless night befalls a sleepy seaside town, leaving it to young Madeline Tock to save her community from a threat known only as the Night Mother...
The moon is stuck like a broken clock in the midnight sky, the sun a distant memory. No one in this quiet seaside town can remember how long this unnatural darkness has lasted. No one, that is, except for the curious girl who lives in the graveyard, caring for the dead: twelve-year-old Madeline Tock. In gratitude, the departed whisper their worries to her, sounding just like her overprotective but loving father: beware this endless night and she who causes it.
Because there’s someone else who can hear the whispers, too...someone whose gown is a map of the cosmos, hair a tangled constellation, eyes like the lights of faraway stars. The Night Mother. Her elemental duty is to gather the souls of the dead in her lantern, then send them to their eternal rest as beautiful moonlight. But when her hunger for power drives her to take souls from the living, Madeline bravely stands up to defend her town and those she loves. Can Madeline help bring back the sun, or will she be lured by the starry promises of this mysterious woman?
Barnabus Tock is an inventor, clock-maker, astronomer, and gravedigger living on the edges of a small seaside town, and his passion (aside from studying the cosmos) is his daughter Madeline (or Maddy) Tock. The moon has stopped moving in the sky, and so it is forever night, and the lack of tides and cold mean that the world is in peril. Amid this upheaval, Maddy’s strange power, an ability to hear the dead, is causing her father extra stress. Is it related in some way to the legend of the mysterious Night Mother and the moon’s stationary position, and if so… is she in danger?
As a series starter, the focus of this brief volume (88 pages short!) is introducing the world the Tocks live in, setting up major character conflict, and moving the plot forward just enough to spark interest in the next entry in the series. And it succeeds at all three of these elements. Setting-wise, the Tock family’s abode is a church that has been converted into a scientist’s workshop, but Maddy prefers to roam as far as her overprotective father will let her – and so she hears the voices of the dead as they are floated down the river in coffins, and then helps her father bury them in their (grave)yard. Maddy’s strange upbringing is apparent right from the start of the story in the juxtaposition of vaulted arches, stained glass windows, and spooky voices emanating from closed coffins. From there, the plot develops as a stranger washes up in town during a storm, and Maddy begins to wonder who the Night Mother is, why she has stopped the moon, and what she might be hunting for.
As the protagonist, Maddy is the focus of the story, but there is enough time allotted on page to her father, the Night Mother, and the stranger dumped onto the town by a rogue wave (not to mention the voices of the dead!) that several characters feel fairly fleshed out. As a typical pre-teen, Maddy’s concerns are gaining independence, doing the right thing, and protecting her family. When her ideas and beliefs are challenged by the narrative, she is adaptive and brave – two excellent characteristics for a future heroine! There are lots of scene changes while running away, revelations and secrets, and magical powers used (and abused) enough for a whole series of stories. It’s an excellent adventure, and one that is sure to lure many readers in and leave them longing for volume 2.
While the story is inventive and engaging, Alexa Sharpe’s art is the absolute star of the show. The spooky graveyard, the vaguely ancient town architecture, the geometry of clocks and astronomical charts, lines of golden light emanating from lanterns… this is the stuff that makes for a rich visual text. There are layers of meaning and detail within the illustrations that will stand up to many rereads, and the movement and expression in the characters’ faces and bodies lends it a cinematic feel as well. Much of the palette is as it appears on the book cover – blues and greens, edging into yellow with splashes of light and violets and indigos in the shadows. The town is an exception, with the local inn’s interior depicted in warm, rusty firelight tones. All of this art is the medium for a story that will engage, entertain, and invite the reader into further escapades with Maddy and crew.
In all, The Night Mother, Vol. 1 is a splendid start to an excellent adventure that spans space. Its spooky notes are balanced with non-stop action, sympathetic characters, and eccentric choices, and make for a delightful (and quick!) read.
Recommended for: readers ages 8 and up, and especially any who like Disney classic animated films.
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