Book Review: Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono

Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono is a novel that originally became popular in Japan but then became popular in North America through a TV show. This novel is about a young witch who goes off on her own for the first time with only her cat Jiji as a companion. Together they explore a new city and Kiki learns what is it like to be on her own for the first time.

Growing up is not easy for a lot of people and being a teenager can be difficult. It is a time when children gain more responsibility and request more independence from their parents. This book perfectly captures this transitional time. It is hard for Kiki’s mother to send her off on her own to find her way as a witch even though she knows deep down its best for her daughter. Kiki is so excited to leave without really considering all the troubles she may run into on her own.

This fun-loving, excited 13-year-old leaves home to live on her own for a whole year. This is a tradition for all young witches. In this time she is supposed to find herself and further develop her witch skills. Kiki has only a few powers upon leaving home for the first time. Deep down this creates a sense of insecurity for Kiki however she only displays full confidence. The only power she possesses when she leaves is flying on her broom. This is a bit different from other witches that go on this journey. For instance, she runs into another witch on her journey who can tell the future. This other witch makes Kiki question herself and her skills a bit but she does not give up.

This book is full of cute humor and funny moments about being on your own for the first time. Kiki has a very cute relationship with her cat. Like many other teenage witch stories, Kiki has a cat that is her little sidekick. They do everything together and Jiji helps by being a companion, friend, sense of reason, and source of information. Throughout the book, they joke around and tease each other. They only have each other on this journey and Jiji’s cynical sense of humor is perfectly balanced with Kiki’s young optimism.

Kiki comes from a very typical family. There is nothing extraordinary about her. She never faced crazy adversity or has any special powers other than being a witch. Being a witch is even pretty normalized within her family, friends, and community. This is something a little different than a lot of novels in the United States. Many main characters are either extraordinary or have faced some source of adversity. Kiki overall lives a very typical life and comes from a loving and supportive family.

Kiki’s eyes got big and hopeful when she arrived at her new, massive city along the coast. When she first came, many people treated her a bit differently. They treated her as an other and were afraid to get to know her. Just when she was at her lowest and felt a bit hopeless about being on her own in this city, she came up with the idea to do odd tasks and deliver things to people on her broom because she is able to get around so efficiently.

Kiki makes her place in the city by delivering packages to people in a very fast manner. She gets herself into a lot of fun adventures by doing this. Kiki meets a bunch of interesting different characters each chapter out on delivery. She even delivers a love note and on New Year’s Eve, she delivers a gear that helps the clock ring at midnight to bring in the New Year for the whole town.  With every problem she is faced with, she found a way to solve it by using her only witch power which is flying on her broom.

Overall this book was very fun and light-hearted. This book was read similar to a diary of Kiki’s and there were lots of fun adventures she encountered. There was not a lot of character or plot developments throughout the novel. The book did not have any crazy plot twists but had a bunch of mini-adventures that were simple and fun to read. The pictures were also nice and complemented the stories well. The translation to English was also good and easily understood. There were a few parts that were a bit choppy and oddly written, but only messed up the flow, never the understanding of the story. This book also taught many lessons about growing up and experiencing things on your own for the first time. Being independent can sound fun and exciting as it was at first to Kiki, however, this independence comes with responsibility. There were times where Kiki had to solve problems and do things for herself. This book certainly covers themes of growing up but also tells the stories in a funny and charismatic way.

Works Cited:

Kadono, Eiko (2003) Kiki’s Delivery Service Annick Press Ltd.