Aster is part of an interesting family: in the grand tradition of his heritage, all of the girls are taught from a young age to become witches while the boys are prepared for the day that they learn to shape shift into wild animals. But unlike all of his male cousins, Aster has none of the early signs of shape shifting and prefers to spend his time listening in on the girls' lessons for witchcraft. He tries to talk to his mom about it, but all she does is tell him about his great uncle, whose interest in witchcraft turned him into a demon, and then forbid Aster to speak of it. It's only through a chance friendship with a sports-loving girl who lives nearby that Aster's able to find a way to talk about his problems.
This is a wonderful story of a boy learning to accept himself for who he is, despite his family and the culture in which he was raised. While I'm pretty sure it was meant as a metaphor for LGBTQ kids, Aster's story also applies to anybody whose interests lie outside the narrow roles given to them by their family or friends or society in general. Ostertag has created a fantastic character in Aster, and I'm curious to see how the rest of his journey goes in future volumes.
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