The flower of the Witch by Enrico Orlandi

Tami is a young boy questing through the world, charged with becoming a man. He was cast out of his village and told not to return until he achieves his goal. Tami has fought monsters and saved princesses, but he is still not a man. A wiseman tells him he must travel far to the north, climb an unscalable mountain, and take the Flower of the Witch who lives there. Tami ventures to this place and continues to fight monsters along the way. Defeating one of the monsters inadvertently sparks a conflict between the villagers who live at the base of the witch’s mountain, and Yabra, the daughter of the slain monster. The villagers and Tami fight side by side to protect everyone and defeat Yabra, which puts Tami in a difficult spot. He must choose between completing his quest or saving everyone.

---

Tami is a remarkably skilled fighter for being so young, and it makes you wonder how fast he had to grow up once he was forced from his home. The speed at which the villagers accept Tami and support him is endearing, and Orlandi does a great job building up to the conflicting choice Tami has to make. The illustrations are very soft, full of pastels, and pleasant.  

An interesting goodreads review suggested reading this as a transgender story, where Tami is actually born female and is questing to become his true self as a man. As there are several pages in the beginning with no words, I initially read Tami as a girl, so this interpretation is plausible and adds another level of intrigue to this story (credit to user sucker4synth).

Dark Horse rates this for ages 8+, and that seems appropriate.  There are some fight scenes as Tami fights monsters, but there is no blood or anything really violent.

Sara’s Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 4-8

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Suitability: Middle School, Graphic Literature, Fantasy, Action Adventure