magic – Page 15 – BookBunnies

Marshmallow reviews Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins

Marshmallow reviews Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins.

Marshmallow got a couple books from the Upside-Down Magic series at a book fair on her school campus and read them over and over for a while now. Below she reviews the first book in the series: Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books about people who are different from others, and if you like magic, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s summary (with spoilers): Nory Horace (Eleanor Horace) is the daughter of the schoolmaster of Sage Academy, so when she fails to get into the Academy, she and her father are very disappointed. Instead Nory goes to another school, Dunwiddle Magic School.

In this book everybody has magic. They can either have the ability to light fires (a Flare), the ability to make friends with animals (a Fluffy), the ability to transform into animals (a Fluxer), the ability to fly (a Flyer), or the ability to make oneself and other things invisible (a Flicker). You get your magic when you are ten. You don’t get to choose your magic. You find out what you are when you are ten.

Nory finds out that she has the ability to transform into animals, but unlike most people with that ability, she transforms into animals that are half and half, like a kitten that has dragon wings (a “dritten”) and a puppy that has squid legs. You get the idea.

Marshmallow is reading Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins. — Marshmallow is reading *Upside-Down Magic* by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins.

Nory’s friend Elliot, instead of creating fire, freezes objects. Andres can fly much higher than an average kid who is a Flyer, but he can’t come down. Instead of transforming into live animals, Bax turns into inanimate objects like rocks or pianos. Pepper is the opposite of the type of person who makes friends with animals; instead she terrifies all animals, including humans transformed into animals. Marigold is like a type of Flicker; she makes things shrink. Willa can make it rain indoors. Sebastian can see sound waves.

This is the full class of the Upside-Down Magic class, for kids who do not have typical magic, or as they like to call it, kids who have upside-down magic.

In their classroom, lessons are unconventional, students are unpredictable, and magic has a tendency to turn wonky at the worst possible moments. Because it’s always amazing, the trouble a little wonky magic can cause . .
https://www.sarahm.com/upside-down-magic

Nory has an exciting time in this class.

Marshmallow’s review: This book is the first of a series of six, a hexalogy like Soman Chainani‘s School for Good and Evil series.(See my review of the fourth book here and the fifth here.) So far in the series I only read a couple, but I really enjoyed this first book. It shows how tough it is to be different from others, but how sometimes it can also be beautiful and unique and that you can enjoy being unique. For example, Nory eventually likes turning into a dritten. Being different can also be hard though. Elliot has some friends (Lacey, Zinnia, and Rune) that tease him because he freezes objects instead of burning them. They are very mean.

Marshmallow’s rating: 90%.

Marshmallow ranks Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins 90%. — Marshmallow ranks *Upside-Down Magic* by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins 90%.

Marshmallow reviews Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

Marshmallow reviews Five Children and It, a novel by Edith Nesbit first published in 1902.

Marshmallow wanted to talk about E. Nesbit’s book Five Children and It today. Sprinkles is asking questions and taking notes.

Marshmallow reviews Five Children and It by E. Nesbit. — Marshmallow reviews *Five Children and It* by E. Nesbit.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow can you tell us a bit about this book?

Marshmallow: Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane, and Lamb the baby dig a hole to reach Australia. While they are digging, they find a strange creature called Psammead (a sand-fairy) that can grant wishes. At the beginning, the children wish to be as beautiful as the day and to have a lot of gold but then they realize that they must be more careful when they are making wishes. Whenever they make a wish, they always end up in trouble.

S: Oh, does this book remind you of another?

M: It’s kind of similar to Half Magic by Edward Eager. Just like in that book, the children find this object or fairy that grants them wishes and they eventually find that they need to think carefully about what they will wish for.

S: So what more can you tell us?

M: This is an interesting book that will beg the question, “If you could wish for anything. what would you wish for?”

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it because it was interesting how when the children wished for something like to be beautiful or when they wished to have wings, there was a problem. For example, when they wished to be “as beautiful as the day” after they tried to interact with their baby brother Lamb (whose real and full name is Hilary St. Maul Devereux). They then change and Lamb does not recognize them because they look different. Also when they try to go to their house their nursemaid does not let them in because they look different and not like their old selves. They get very hungry and thirsty and they realize that it was not a great idea to have wished to be “as beautiful as the day.”

S: What more do you want to say?

M: This is a very entertaining book, and very well written. It will make you want to read on to learn what wish the children make next.

S: Yes, they do make some strange wishes, don’t they? What did you think of the illustrations?

M: I thought the pictures were very successful.

Marshmallow is pointing out one of the many illustrations in Five Children and It by E. Nesbit. — Marshmallow is pointing out one of the many illustrations in *Five Children and It* by E. Nesbit.

S: And you have some thoughts on the characters?

M: Yes! Especially I liked the fact that the children act like children. Kind of like in the Ivy + Bean books!

S: This is a very old book. It could be the oldest book you have read. What do you think of that?

M: It is an old book. It does have some stereotypes, like girls always cry, and boys never do. But overall it is a good book.

S: Ok, so what would you have wished for if you had met Psammead?

M: I don’t know. What would you wish for?

S: I don’t know, either. It is a hard question, without all the challenges this particular sand-fairy brings. Maybe I’d wish for some good meal, or a good night’s sleep. Something simple like that… Or I could wish for a good book to read. This was one, you say?

M: Yes! I’d rate it 95%. And I really want to add this last sentence: Stay tuned for more book bunnies reviews!

Marshmallow rates Five Children and It by E. Nesbit 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Five Children and It* by E. Nesbit 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Half Magic by Edward Eager

This week Marshmallow reviews a 1954 classic, Half Magic by Edward Eager, the first book in his Tales of Magic series.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books about magical charms, and adventure stories about a handful of siblings, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): The four siblings Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha are expecting to have a very boring summer. That is until they find the charm. The charm that works by halves. If you made a wish while touching the charm, then half of your wish would come true. So in order to get your whole wish you would have to say it in this fashion. Let’s say you wish is to have a dog appear then you would say that you wanted two dogs to appear because if you wished that one dog would appear then one half of a dog would appear. (You probably wouldn’t want to have half of a dog.)

Wishing for two times some things is a cinch, but other doubled wishes only cause twice as much trouble. What is half of twice a talking cat? Or to be half-again twice not-here? And how do you double your most heartfelt wish, the one you care about so much that it has to be perfect?

The children decide that they will take turns to use the charm. It turns out that other people have knowledge of the charm that grants wishes and they happen to want the charm. In a desert, which they travel to on Mark’s wish — he wants a desert island but the charmed coin takes them to a desert –. a man tries to abduct Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha. When he realizes that they have the charm, he says that they stole it from his people.

On Katharine’s turn to make a wish, they travel into the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. They help stop Morgan Le Fay, an evil sorceress in this retelling of the myth, from kidnapping and killing the Knights of the Round Table.

Marshmallow is pointing toward one of her favorite parts of the book, where Jane makes a foolish decision. Here Jane is wishing that she belonged to a different family.

They have some problems though, before they figure out how to use the charm. For instance, Martha wishes that she was not at the place she was and since she didn’t say it the way you need to, she became half there and half not there. The children eventually learn how to use it, and in the end, they have a very exciting summer, not at all the one they thought lay ahead.

Marshmallow’s Review: Half Magic is a classic and I think a great read for all ages. Written in 1954, it successfully entertained children for many years and probably will do the same for many to come. I enjoyed Half Magic very much and look forward to reading more about these characters in Edward Eager’s other novels.

Marshmallow’s rating: 100%

Marshmallow rates Half Magic by Edward Eager 100%. And she adds: "May the Fourth Be With You!" — Marshmallow rates *Half Magic* by Edward Eager 100%. And she adds: “May the Fourth Be With You!”

Marshmallow’s first review: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling

Marshmallow loved reading the seven books in the Harry Potter series. Below she shares her thoughts on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling.

Marshmallow reviews Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling. — Marshmallow reviews *Harry Potter and the Cursed Child*, by J.K. Rowling.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books about magic and adventure then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s summary (with spoilers): While dealing with family issues and an unwanted family legacy that comes with being Harry Potter’s youngest son, it does not help that Albus Severus Potter gets placed in Slytherin, the house opposing the one that his parents were placed in. The world seems to go upside down. But on the Hogwarts Express Albus makes a friend, Scorpius Malfoy. His parents discourage the idea of being friends with Draco Malfoy’s son. (Draco was a bully and a nuisance at school while Harry was there.)

When he catches his father lying to Amos Diggory about a time turner that Harry says the Ministry of Magic does not have, Albus decides that if his father can’t be a hero, then he will.

While listening to Amos plead for a time turner to save his beloved son Cedric Diggory, Albus meets Delphini (Delphi) Diggory, Cedric’s cousin. [Flashback to Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Cedric Diggory entered the Triwizard Tournament, a competition between Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbaton. There is supposed to be one champion from every school and they have to be 17 years old to enter their names into the Goblet of Fire. But someone older than 17 enters Harry’s name into the Goblet of Fire and the champions are Harry and Cedric Diggory for Hogwarts, Victor Krum for Durmstrang, and Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons. In the last of the three trials, Cedric is killed by Wormtail (a servant of Lord Voldemort), who was ordered to “kill the spare”. Then Harry finds out that Barty Crouch Jr., the son of Barty Crouch, disguised as Professor Mad-Eye Moody, put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire.]

Harry lies to Amos, and says that the Ministry of Magic does not have any time turners, so he cannot help him. Albus decides that if his father can’t be a hero, then he will. So he steals a time turner with Scorpius and Delphi to try to save Cedric Diggory before death catches up to them. They decide that Delphi should stay behind. But then they mess up and Albus ceases to exist because they kill Harry and without him Voldemort returns.

Scorpius, Snape (who is still alive in this alternate world), and Ron and Hermione (who are rebels trying to kill Voldemort) try to fix the world and do. But when they return Cedric is still dead. They try to save Cedric one last time with Delphi. But Delphi had no intention to save Cedric Diggory for she was waiting to save her father, Tom Marvolo Riddle, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named — only the bravest (and in Book 7, the most reckless) called him Lord Voldemort. But Albus and Scorpius don’t know her intentions until they see the Augurey on her neck and the murder of Craig Bowker Jr. When the time turner is smashed to dozens of pieces all hope is lost. Will they be able to save the Wizarding World from the new prophecy?

“When spares are spared, and time is turned, when unseen children murder their fathers: Then will the Dark Lord return.”

Marshmallow’s review: I think that this book would be great for people who enjoyed reading the first seven Harry Potter books. Though this is written in the form of a screenplay (I read the Special Rehearsal Edition Script), it has a great plot. And all throughout, the real villain in this story had been hiding in the shadows waiting to strike. J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne twist and turn this beautifully written story and a moral for all, “Sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”

Marshmallow’s rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Harry Potter and The Cursed Child* by J.K. Rowling 100%.