Just following on from this, a quick tip regarding the grammar. The い in い-adjectives like まるい changes to くwhen it is used with a verb.
E.g. 丸い目 = round eyes
→ 目が丸くなる = [one’s] eyes become round
→ 目を丸くする = to make [one’s] eyes round
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On page 23 (blue book) the mom has a really long piece of dialogue. I got most of it, but I do have a some questions.
- 「お金はほんのすこし、きりつめてきりつめて一年やっと食べるぐらいしかもたせられないのよ」
I interpreted this pretty much as “You won’t have as much money or food”, but I’m having trouble putting it together more precisely than that.
「お金はほんのすこし、きりつめてきりつめて」 = Is this saying that her money will be reduced to a small amount or by a small amount?
「一年やっと食べるぐらいしかもたせられない」 I’m not really sure how ぐらい changes the meaning. And what does たせられない mean here? I assume it’s 足す, so “food can not be taken care of”? (potential → passive → negative)
- 「町の人たちのお役にたってきたようにね」
On this one, I’m assuming ように is actually ようになる with the なる left unstated. Did anyone else come to that conclusion?
- 「あのほうきならようく使いんであるし、…」
What is ようく? I can’t find a meaning for that or any conjugated variation of it.
As far as 3. goes, a thought…could it just be an exaggerated, speech-like, よく? That could make sense maybe.
EDIT: or possibly 容易なー＞ようく would be another thought…it could be easily used
It can’t be 容易 because you don’t make na-adjectives into adverbs with く. My best guess was what you said first, that it might just be an exaggerated よく.
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I read this as “we can only give you/send you with a small amount of money, enough that if you really economise it will barely be enough for you to eat for a year”
So I’ve interpreted きりつめてきりつめて as economising i.e. budgeting and not spending more than you absolutely need to
ぐらい (くらい) has a meanings “to the extent that; (almost) enough that” so 食べるぐらい = enough that you can eat
もたせられない is from もたせる. Meanings include: to let someone have; to give; to send with someone
しか means only, but is used with a verb in the negative form.
Seeing as the grammar thread seemed to be popular today:
Main clause: お金はほんのすこししかもたせられないのよ We can only give you a small amount of money
Subclause: きりつめてきりつめて一年やっと食べるぐらい enough that you could barely eat for a year if you economise
I read this as ように meaning “like/in the way that”. Kokiri is telling Kiki that she’ll need to find a way to support herself, “like your mother did”
I wasn’t sure about this either, but my best guess is the same as TamanegiNoKame - a slightly exaggerated よく
Hope I haven’t bored your socks off!
Also no guarantees that I am correct either. 
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So, I think I missed an important plot point in Chapter 2. I’m reading Chapter 3 now, and I realized that Kiki is riding her mum’s broom, not her willow one. I thought they had come to the conclusion that Kiki could use her broom.
Rereading carefully, I see now that that’s not true. Can someone verify what they’re saying about it? It looks like Kiki’s mother says that when her mother’s broom gets old (the one Kiki is using now), then she can use her favorite one (the willow one). So then, Kiki asks “I worked so hard on it, what should I do?” And her mother says “I can use it instead. Then it’ll be okay, right?”
And then Kiki goes into asking for clothes as a present. I think I’m mistranslating, and maybe her mother says “Well instead what can I do to make it up to you?” but that doesn’t fit. So maybe she’s saying that she’ll take care of it?
Edit: I just saw the chapter summary. THANK YOU @kteale. So it does look like she relents because her mother says she’ll use it in her stead. It doesn’t quite make sense to me, though. Anyone have some insight here? Or is Kiki just really 大人しい?
Her mother convinced her that Kiki shouldn’t use a broom she wasn’t used to, in case something happens. To use hers instead cause it has been well used and is safe/good or something to that effect. And she could use the new one (cause she more experienced I guess, or not as reliant on it… ) And by the time the old broom was used up Kiki should be able to make a new one.
This was based on the Swedish translation, they might use different expressions and words in the original, but should be to the same effect. First part is just before the money part that was just talked about, and then she continues afterward with the rest. But it is all in that area.
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I think maybe she realises that her mother is right (if only my daughter would do that more frequently! ) and that given her only magic skill is flying, she really needs to be sure that she has a reliable broom. The fact that her mother says she’ll swap proves to Kiki that her mother respects the effort she put into making her own broom, which I think is a mollifying factor. Plus as her mother points out, that broom will eventually wear out, by which time she will be old enough to have whatever broom she likes.
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On page 25 (blue book) it says 「黒の中の黒」. I get the meaning in this context, but is this a specific grammar point? I couldn’t find anything in Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, on Bunpro, or by searching google for 〇の中の〇.
Also, now twice within two pages (still on page 25) I saw 「まかしといて」. From the context I’m guessing that at least the first part is from 任す, meaning “to entrust”, but I’m not sure if that’s right. Even if it is, I’m not sure about the rest of it.
Success! Finally finished chapter 2! 
EDIT: I’d also like to thank @kteale for the chapter summary. I actually understood almost all the plot points (apparently), but I didn’t realize Cosmos was a type of flower! I just assumed it was some brand I wasn’t familiar with, but when you described it as a “floral outfit” and I looked it up again and found that.
EDIT 2: This is random, but I posted a picture I bought a while ago. There is something red tied to Kiki’s broom, which I just assumed was her purse. Now I’m thinking it might be the red radio that she asked for!
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I’m pretty sure this is the same as まかしておいて, if you google ~て おく as a grammar point you’ll see that it can change to とくin colloquial speech.
Ah, thank you. I’ve seen とく in place of ておく enough that I should have realized, but the conjugation of おく／とく threw me off. Hopefully I’ll get better at recognizing these as I read more. 
I discovered this book club only yesterday and am racing to catch up with you all. On chapter two now and here is a question i didn’t find answered in the thread…
When Kiki says
歳になってしばらくたったころ、友だちが「あたし、かあさんのあとをついで美容師になるんだ」といったの耳にして、「あとつぎ」ということを急に考えるようになったのです。
I understand the first bit, that she heard a friend say that she wanted to follow in her mom’s footsteps and become a beautician. But what does the last half of the sentence mean? Does it mean 'what kiki would become suddenly became something for her to think about? Why is that ‘ato tsugi’ marked out like that?
Also, on page 11 it says
空気もほんのすこし青い感じでした
Does this mean ‘the air also got slightly bluer’? Why is it 青い感じ instead of 色 then? Does it mean something else and isn’t referring to the color of the air?
Hello @ekadish ekadish, welcome to the Kiki club! 
Red book p 19
あとつぎ means heir or successor あとつぎ - Jisho.org
ようになる indicates a change of state.
So the friend’s comment is the catalyst for Kiki suddenly starting to think about herself in terms of being a witch, like her mother, when before she hadn’t given it any thought.
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p20 red book
How about “The air seemed to be ever so slightly blue.” I think it gives an indication of Kiki feeling like she is much higher in the sky than she actually is.
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thanks! so concise, clear and helpful!
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I have a few more questions! If someone could help?
on page 14 kiki tells jiji when she’s decided to leave. then she looks to the sky and declares:
どうなることやら、心配だね。きめたらすぐのひとだから。
what does she mean? does she mean ‘I’m worried about what I’ll do/become? I’m someone who likes to decide things quickly?’
then on page 16 when kiki and her mother are discussing which broom she should take and kiki criticizes her mother’s broom for being old fashioned and sooty, the mother says:
いずれはこのかあさんのほうきも古くなるでしょうよ、そのときはあなたも一人前になっているでしょうから。
don’t understand this one at all.
on page 17, when the mother is telling kiki about what witches traditionally wear:
むかしから魔女の洋服の色はすべての黒の中の黒って決まっていろの。
is it read : くろのなかのくろってきまっていろの？and why is it put like that? amongst black, black is chosen?
on page 17 when kiki’s mother tells her don’t be so obsessed with figure/appearance, the heart is what’s important kiki replies:
かあさん、わかっていろわよ。こころのほうはまかしといて。
What does that last line mean? Just a few lines before this, the mother says the same thing to kiki…
I feel bad that I’ve dropped the ball on this one, sorry guys!
OK, I will give this a go! (but in stages as I have to go out!)
(p24 red book). I think Jiji might be saying that if Kiki’s parents will worry about how things will turn out, because Kiki is someone who makes quick decisions. I say this because a few sentences earlier, Kiki has announced that she will tell her parents about the decision that evening.