Peach Fuzz vol 1

By Lindsay Cibos & Jared Hodges (Tokyopop)
ISBN: 1-5953-259-9

Amanda is a little girl who wants a pet. After much doing of that thing kids do, her cost-conscious mother finally surrenders to the inevitable and lets her get a baby ferret from a somewhat downbeat pet store.

What the humans don’t suspect is that the baby ferret (christened Peach Fuzz by the besotted Amanda) is a creature with an astonishing Walter Mitty-like fantasy life. She regards herself as the pampered princess of a Noble House, with courtiers and knights to carry out her every desire. The recurrent depredations of the hideous, monstrous five headed “Handra” that abducted her from her palace and often now accosts her before rudely returning her to her “dungeon” she sees as a dreadful indignity. Naturally therefore, she defends herself at every opportunity.

Amanda meanwhile, is emotionally (and physically) torn, since her pet isn’t everything she expected. Although she loves Peach Fuzz dearly, the animal is not particularly affectionate. In fact, she is being bitten every time she plays with her, and can’t even complain since mother has threatened to return the ferret if it bites!

Can all these little traumas be resolved? The answer makes delightful reading for kids of all ages with a taste for tongue-in-cheek whimsy. Peach Fuzz is the product of two newcomers to the field who won the Grand Prize in TokyoPop’s talent competition Rising Stars of Manga with this tale of communication, compromise and commitment. Well worth a look.

© 2005 Lindsay Cibos & Jared Hodges. English text © 2005 TOKYOPOP INC. All Rights Reserved.