ZATANNA

A 17-year-old girl makes a fascinating discovery about herself, which leads to learning shocking secrets from the past.

Rising senior Zatanna Starr has been looking forward to leaving prep school behind in favor of a fun summer in her Coney Island neighborhood—the home of mermaids, mystics, magicians, and mobsters—with boyfriend Alexei and friends Izzy and Kenia. Her first night of summer break takes a disastrous turn, however, when her master illusionist father unexpectedly pulls her into the middle of his show despite her paralyzing stage fright. To blow off steam, Zatanna and her friends attend a circus (which mysteriously vanishes the next day) where they come across mirror-script, or backward writing, that strangely makes perfect sense to Zatanna. She begins obsessively researching its origins, but things go awry when mystical clouds with mirror-script writing, visible only to her, lead Zatanna to realize that she possesses magic. From there, life becomes messy, with startling secrets coming to light and enemies lurking in the shadows as Zatanna grows more powerful. Detailed illustrations in dreamy shades of pinks, purples, and blues bring the mystical, quirky setting to life. While the artwork will draw readers in, Zatanna’s heartfelt, gritty story will keep them tearing through pages as she unravels the mysteries in her life. Zatanna reads as White; Alexei, Izzy, and Kenia are cued as Russian, Romani, and Trinidadian American, respectively. Izzy and Kenia are queer.

An enchanting mystery.