  | One jar of magic Author: Haydu, Corey Ann | |
| Price: $21.88 | ||
Summary:
Rose Alice Anders believes she is destined to catch more jars of magic than anyone else on New Year's Day--only to catch just one tiny jar of magic. Her dad won't talk to her anymore and her friendships have been ruined. Maybe if she's away from all the jars of magic, and from her dad, Rose can begin to piece together what's truly real in a world full of magic.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 4.60 Points: 10.0 Quiz: 510559 |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (12/01/20)
School Library Journal (+) (02/01/21)
Booklist (+) (02/01/21)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/01/21)
The Hornbook (00/01/21)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 02/01/2021 *Starred Review* Magic has always been part of life in Belling Bright, where residents keep jars of it for uses both practical and frivolous. Though everyone uses magic to one degree or another, Wendell Anders is renowned for his extraordinary abilities with it, and everyone assumes that his daughter, Rose, will be just as proficient. She’s about to turn 12, which means she can finally participate in the annual capturing of magic and prove to everyone that she is just as remarkable as they hope. After all, as her father insists, people only attract the magic they deserve. When things don’t turn out as she hoped, though, Rose’s father fumes, and she’s despondent. What does it say about her worth in a magical town if she can barely capture a jar of the stuff? Haydu’s (Eventown, 2019) story is a stunner. Its magic system is inventive and imaginative, and Rose and her world are drawn with care and compassion. But beyond the magic, there’s an important thread of emotional, and eventually physical, abuse in the Anders family, and while the implications are subtle at first, by the story’s end, there’s no denying their impact on the close-knit family and community at large. It’s a carefully crafted message of hope and the sometimes-painful beauty in forging an identity all your own. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 02/01/2021 Gr 4–7—Expectation runs high for 12-year-old Rose Anders, whose father, Wendell, is the most successful magic-catcher in Belling Bright. His jars of trapped magic fill every closet. Rose, described as having blue eyes and brown curly hair, awaits her first magic-catching day with rising dread. Her friends Maddy, with blonde braids, and Ginger, whose appearance is not described, seem to be tiring of Rose's incessant proclamations of her heir apparent status, while at home her father's dodgy advice becomes overbearing, even as her brother Lyle and passive mother try to still its contentious waves. Magic-catching day does not go as planned for Rose, and she suffers an embarrassing letdown. Meeting a family who is "Not Meant for Magic" and dealing with her father's ominous mood swings, Rose confronts the effect magic has on her family and community. Haydu's work of magical realism evokes fraught emotions boiling just below the surface of Rose's "perfect" life. Her first-person narration begins with a confident arrogance that slowly dissipates along with her father's public geniality. The quirky joys a jar of magic can provide, like pink hair, rainbows, and bad weather, delicately balance against Rose's descent from popularity into a near pariah. Rose's visceral pain and her hard-earned agency will be deeply felt. While age appropriate, the story does contain possible triggers for domestic abuse survivors. VERDICT Readers who enjoy everyday magic, friendship stories, and family drama will be enchanted by this magic jar of a book.—Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Lib. Assoc., CT - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
