Lam, Michelle. Meesh the Bad Demon. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2023. 978-0-593-3727-6. unpaged. $21.99. Grades 3-6.

Meesh lives with her grandmother in Mount Magma, home of the demons and land of the lava. In fact, lava is the essence of life in Mount Magma, and most demons will spend their lives working at one of its lava plants. Meesh, however, would rather be a fairy than a demon. She loves flowers, struggles to breathe fire, and doesn’t find rainbows and unicorns disgusting in the slightest. She also idolizes television star Princess Nouna and her charmed life in Plumeria City. In other words, she is a bad demon. When the lava is infected with a toxin that turns everyone in Mount Magma to stone, Meesh escapes in the nick of time with her grandmother’s amulet. She makes her way to Plumeria City, where she stumbles into Princess Nouna’s birthday party and then right into a portal, with Nouna in tow. When they emerge, they must work together to save Mount Magma, and maybe heal the rift between fairies and demons. Volume 1 of Meesh’s adventures is a little heavy on world-building, but it works to set up Volume 2 with an unresolved plot point. 

THOUGHTS: Meesh the Bad Demon is a heartwarming adventure story that will hook readers with its manga-style artwork, high stakes, and themes of friendship and loyalty. 

Graphic Novel