Melowy is an Italian children's book and comic book series with a target demographic of girls 7-12[1] written by Danielle Star. The books chronicle the tale of unicorns with special wings, as well as magic abilities,[2] during their stay at the Castle of Destiny and Castle of Chance[3] boarding schools.

Melowy

AuthorDanielle Star
TranslatorChris Turner
IllustratorErika De Pieri
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
DisciplineChildren's, Fantasy
PublisherFabbri Editori, Atlantyca Dreamfarm, Scholastic
Published2016-2018
Published in English2018-2021
No. of books15
Websitehttps://www.atlantyca.com/en/department/publishing-contents-en/melowy/

Development

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Danielle Star wrote the script for the first 12 books before submitting them to Alessandra Berello, publisher manager at Atlantyca Entertainment, who she began frequently chatting with on E-mail,[4][5] including to discuss and approve the characters' clothes and accessories.

Lead characters

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  • Cleo (Clio): Home realm unknown, having grown up at the Castle of Destiny and was raised by the castle's chef.
  • Electra (Elettra): From the Day Realm.
  • Selene: From the Night Realm.
  • Cora (Kora): From the Winter Realm. Likes to go ice skating.[6]
  • Maya (Maia): From the Spring Realm. Likes to cook food.[6]

Books

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Books
Number Original title English title Original release date
1 Il sogno si avvera Dreams Come True March 31, 2016[7]
2 Il canto della luna The Song of the Moon March 31, 2016
3 La notte del coraggio The Night of Courage March 31, 2016
4 L'incanto del ghiaccio The Ice Enchantment March 31, 2016
5 Il giorno della felicità The Surprise Visit May 5, 2016
6 Il libro segreto The Secret Book May 5, 2016
7 La forza dell'amicizia The Power of Friendship May 5, 2016
8 Il ballo della principessa The Princess Ball May 5, 2016
9 Il palazzo di cristallo The Crystal Palace May 26, 2016
10 La ricretta della primavera The Spring Recipe May 26, 2016
11 La magia di Destiny The Magic of Destiny May 26, 2016
12 Amiche per sempre Friends Forever May 26, 2016
13 In cerca del tesoro In Search of Treasure June 12, 2018
14 Destiny in pericolo Destiny in Danger June 12, 2018
15 Un sogno da salvare[8] A Dream to Save October 30, 2018

Comics

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In contrast to the books, the comics were created in the United States by Papercutz and had English as their original language.

Melowy
Publication information
PublisherPapercutz
FormatOngoing series
GenreChildren's, Comedy, Fantasy
Publication dateMay 2018 – present
No. of issues6
Creative team
Written byCortney Faye Powell
Artist(s)Ryan Jampole
Letterer(s)Wilson Ramos Jr[9]
Colorist(s)Laurie Smitch[10]
Comics
Number Title Release date
1 The Test of Magic[note 1] May 29, 2018
2 The Fashion Club of Colors December 4, 2018
3 Time to Fly September 10, 2019
4 Frozen in Time June 9, 2020
5 Melloween February 22, 2022
6 The Dream Realm May 2, 2023[13]

Toys

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A one-wave, 12-figure[14] toyline was released in Italy in 2015 that predated both the books and the comics.[15][16]

Reception

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The Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) wrote about Dreams Come True that "With bright coloured illustrations", "the Melowy series will appeal to new independent readers.",[17] while Kirkus Reviews wrote that while formulaic, "the audience it’s carefully calculated to appeal to will probably adore it."[18] First Comics News wrote about The Test of Magic that it was a "younger reader book but can be enjoyed by any age.", and that the characters were "adorable" and "sickly sweet",[19] Booklist wrote that it would appeal to "Fans of whimsical, effervescent comics",[20] while BSCKids wrote that "The characters are fun" and that the "coloring and artwork really bring out their personalities".[21] Cairns Post listed The Night of Courage as a "Good Reads" in its Northern Family section.[22][23]

The first book (Il sogno si avvera) was number 8 on the kids literature list of La Stampa Tuttolibri's publishing of Italian BookScan weekly bestsellers for 27 March through 2 April 2016.[24] The following week, it was placed 4th in Corriere della Sera's kids literature sales charts for 11–17 April 2016.[25]

Translations

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In addition to Italian and English, the books have been translated to French,[26] Spanish, Catalan,[27] Basque,[28] Portuguese, Polish, Russian, and Greek. However, only the Italian version received all 15 books.

Notes

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  1. ^ Also referred to as The Forest of Fears[11] and The Challenge in The Forest.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Melowy". Licensing Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Spring 2018 Children's Sneak Previews". Publishers Weekly. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  3. ^ "MELOWY._LO_SCRIGNO_DEI_SEGRETI" (PDF). Rizzoli Libri (in Italian). Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  4. ^ "I sogni son desideri". PressReader (in Italian). 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  5. ^ Aquaro, Peppe (1 April 2016). "Il sogni son desideri" [Dreams are wishes]. Sette (in Italian). Italy: Corriere della Sera. p. 57.
  6. ^ a b "Melowy: The Test of Magic". BookTrust. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Melowy Vol. 1 "Il sogno si avvera" di Danielle Star – Recensione "Da bambino a bambino"". Le Fiamme di Pompei (in Italian). 27 June 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Melowy Continua Con Due Nuovi Volumi!". Luca Giorgi Comics & Illustrations (in Italian). 17 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Ramos Comics on Twitter". Twitter. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  10. ^ "Laurie Smith". Twitter. 26 January 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  11. ^ "Melowy Vol. 1 : The Test of Magic". Book Depository. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  12. ^ "Melowy Vol. 1". Booktopia. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Melowy #6: The Dream Realm (Paperback)". Village Books. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Pokémon cards (EX) & pony melowy blind bags!!!". YouTube. 13 April 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  15. ^ "MELOWY - principesse unicorno pubblicità". YouTube (in Italian). 2 March 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  16. ^ "Photoshooting Pepperkids" (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  17. ^ "Sunday Funday Telegraph Reviews 9 September 2018". Twitter. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  18. ^ "Dreams Come True". Kirkus Reviews. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  19. ^ "RICH REVIEWS: Melowy: The Test of Magic # 1". First Comics News. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  20. ^ "Melowy: The Test of Magic". Booklist. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  21. ^ "Melowy By Papercutz". BSCKids. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  22. ^ "Melowy #3". Cairns Post. Australia. 16 July 2018. pp. 14–15.
  23. ^ "Melowy #3". PressReader. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  24. ^ "tuttoLibri SABATO 9 APRILE 2016" (PDF) (in Italian). 9 April 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  25. ^ "Lettura 24 04 2016" (PDF). Stefano Lorenzetto (in Italian). 24 April 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  26. ^ "Melowy T.12 : Des amies de rêve". Librairie du Soleil (in French). Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  27. ^ "Melowy. El Cant de la Lluna: Melowy 2 (libro en Catalán)". Busca Libre (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  28. ^ "MELOWY 1 - AMETS BETEA". Elkar. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
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