Fantasy

Just Read: “The Wildseed” by Marti Dumas

Kay Goodnight Uncategorized , , , , , , , , ,

Hasani has two goals after seventh grade ends – to expand her makeup YouTube channel and figure out a way to reunite her parents.

When an emotional outburst causes her undiscovered magical abilities to boil to the surface, Hasani is contacted by Les Belles Demoiselles, a charm school that teaches young ladies to harness their magic.

As excited as she is to understand her newly discovered abilities, Hasani has a lot of catching up to do. The other girls had grown up in a magical family. Hasani did not. The others come from homes of distinction and wealth. Hasani does not. So she is snubbed as ‘that scholarship girl.’

As Hasani struggles to learn as much as quickly as she can, she also sees the possibilities. Could her magic help her launch her channel to new heights? Could it make her dad leave his new bikini-wearing fiancée and return home where Hasani thinks he belongs?

Maybe it could. But at what cost to Hasani and those closest to her.

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To be honest, when I selected this book, I expected another story about a school for young witches inspired by JK Rowling’s Harry Potter. I’m delighted to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Is this book about witches? Yes. But it’s not about casting spells. Instead, it’s story is about a school that teaches young ladies of means not just how to use charms, but how to BE charming. So, truly a finishing school for young ladies.

Dumas does a masterful job of helping readers connect to Hasani through her thoughts and her actions without overwhelming readers with either. Her settings are unique and fun, literally flowering off the page. I would highly recommend this book to witches or all ages.

@momteacherwriter, www.martidumasbooks.com

Just Read: “The Girl Who Drank the Moon” by Kelly Barnhill

Kay Goodnight Just Read , , , , , , , , ,

THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON is a middle grade novel by Kelly Barnhill that won the 2017 Newberry Medal. Well deserved, in my opinion.

THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON is the story of a girl, Luna, and the witch who saved her, Xan. It centers around one town’s sad tradition of sacrificing one baby each year to the witch in the woods so that she won’t curse the village. (Reminiscent of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson.) The villager’s believe in this necessity. The councilmen who implement it do too, but for different reasons. They don’t believe there’s a witch. They do believe that this Day of Sacrifice crushes the spirits of the villagers and allows the council to maintain control.

But the witch does exist, only not the evil one the people imagine. Baffled by the villager’s actions, the witch Xan rescues the children and nourishes them with starlight as she makes the journey to find each baby a home on the other side of the forest. Then one special baby captures the heart of Xan. And when Xan accidently enmagics baby Luna with moonlight instead of starlight, she decides she must raise Luna herself, because an enmagiced child is a dangerous child to herself and to others.

This charming story is brimming over with interesting characters. There are two dragons (who doesn’t like dragons?), one regular size poem-reciting dragon and one “simply enormous” dragon that often sleeps in Luna’s pocket. There’s Antain, the village boy who sees the Day of Sacrifice as a day of horror and decides he must kill the witch to save the children. There’s a madwoman whose paper birds maim, a threatening volcano, and a woman with a tigers heart that prowls the night.

Whew. There’s a lot going on. But Barnhill masterfully weaves the characters, setting, and magical elements of THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON into a well-pace story filled with twists, mystery, magic, and more. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for middle grade and young adult readers. THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON won’t disappoint.