A delightfully spooky page-turner for middle-grade readers.
Award-winning travel writer Roberts spins an engrossing tale of magic, mystery, and friendship in his debut middle-grade novel.
In the quaint Massachusetts town of Willow Cove, 13-year-old Abby Shepherd and her best friend, Robby O’Reilly, discover that she’s a witch when Amethyst Jones, another young witch, reveals the news. A mysterious and powerful magic user named Miss Winters has arrived in town, embroiling the unsuspecting teens in a web of intrigue that stretches all the way back to the Salem witch trials. As Abby meets other young witches and learns how to harness her magic under the tutelage of Miss Winters, Robby is thrust into a missing person case and starts a romance with the new girl at school. Abby and Robby, who used to be inseparable, find themselves increasingly at odds as secrets and resentments come between them. But what they don’t know is that the mysteries of Willow Cove go far deeper than they ever imagined and that no one is exactly what they seem. Roberts perfectly balances small-town drama, preteen hijinks, and paranormal thriller action in an engaging novel with a vibrant cast of characters. The strength of Abby and Robby’s platonic relationship is a key element of the story, and the witches of Abby’s coven are each dynamic and unique in their own ways. The setting of Willow Cove is also commendably well developed, offering plenty of quirkiness and local color. It convincingly feels like a living entity with a vast history—one that Abby and her friends only begin to uncover in this book; more revelations may follow in a planned sequel, The Curse of Willow Cove.
A delightfully spooky page-turner for middle-grade readers.Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-945654-49-7
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Alternately humorous and heartrending, this lively fantasy will have wide appeal.
Can a 12-year-old girl and a dragon awakened from a 1,000-year nap save the world?
In the Draconic Empire, magic is forbidden outside the imperial bloodline. Any other magic use will summon the Revenants, who killed the dragons and the mighty Dragon Mage a millennium ago. Or will it? Five years ago, Ciara found Dragon Mage apprentice Bianca’s magical journal. Bianca’s exuberant, irreverent entries describe a warm (“She’s a hugger”), generous mage with “tawny-brown skin” who wanted dragons to teach all humans to use magic. Living in a mining village that’s been devastated by its cruel Warden’s greed and the Skael Cough that killed her father, Ciara yearns for magical assistance. Then, with the journal’s help, she accidentally wakens a long-sleeping dragon. Can Scorch, who was Bianca’s magister, teach Ciara magic so she can save both her town and her ailing mother? With the Warden willing to ravage and kill for the journal, the cliffhanger ending promises more peril to come. This fast-paced adventure’s hilariously dry humor may not prepare readers for the utter despair of other elements of the story. The characters are memorable and sympathetic, especially impulsive, brave Ciara, who’s cued white, and snarky, protective Scorch, both of whom are guilt-ridden for different reasons. They share the main narration, sometimes confusingly switching viewpoints within scenes. Avid fantasy readers will appreciate the complex magic system.
Alternately humorous and heartrending, this lively fantasy will have wide appeal. (Draconic spells) (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780593813171
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Labyrinth Road
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all.
Eleven-year-old Frank must solve a supernatural mystery to save his new home.
As fifth grade comes to an end, Frank Fernández is looking forward to finally staying put in Alabama for a second year, as promised, after a childhood spent following his parents’ home renovation work all across the country. Frequent relocation has made Frank wary of forming friendships or making plans, but his hopes for more stability are temporarily dashed when his parents announce plans to renovate a lighthouse in the Florida Keys, near where his mother grew up and his father’s home country of Cuba. Papi promises this will be their last move, though: The lighthouse will be theirs. But from their first day on Spectacle Key, things seem to go wrong: Tensions rise between his parents, and Frank’s hopes of a forever home are under threat from seemingly supernatural forces. In order to put down roots, Frank and new ghostly friend Connie, a White girl with freckles, must discover what secrets the island is hiding, uncovering Frank’s own family roots along the way. Frank is a fan of horror—he names his new Great Dane puppy Mary Shelley. But though there is some mild peril to be found, rather than a ghostly thriller, this is an appealing, lightly spooky family drama with valuable lessons for those who would hide from a difficult past instead of confronting and healing generational trauma.
Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all. (Supernatural. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-313481-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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