The wizard in the wood

Gr 2--4--After a summer of magical adventures, Kit, Josh, and Alita are ready to start school and excited to learn that they will be getting a new library. In this world, librarians are wizards and a proper library must have a dragon underneath to imbue it with magic. When the friends meeting the council of wizards to procure a dragon egg for their new library. On the first day of school, they are excited to meet their new school librarian, Ben, and to check on the dragon egg--only to find that it's gone missing! Kit and her friends will have to rely on their friendship and self-confidence to defeat this big bad threat to the wizarding world. VERDICT A pleasing combination of humor and peril, along with Ortu's plentiful illustrations, make this a great starter fantasy series.

Josh, Kit, and Alita find themselves in the middle of yet another magical adventure. The summer is coming to a close, but first there's a dragon egg to plant under the new school library. It is well known that librarians are wizards and that in order to have a proper library, a dragon, with all its magic, must be housed underneath. But that is where everything goes wrong. On the first day of school, the three children rush to meet their new librarian, Ben, and to sneak a peek at the dragon egg to see if it's ready to hatch...only to find it's been stolen. With the help of Ben and Faith, a librarian friend from their previous outings, the children set out to find the egg, in the process uncovering a cabal of dark wizards bent on overturning the wizarding world. The worldbuilding feels plausible, and readers will easily picture the magical Book Wood, imagine a dragon living under their own libraries, and envision themselves casting spells and battling giant, evil rats. Young readers will be surprised at the twists and turns the story takes. Ortu's charming and appealing illustrations are well laid out, helping to flesh out this diversely populated world. The story opens with a brief recap, making it completely accessible to those who have not read the earlier two entries. A solid, fun read for fantasy lovers. (Fantasy. 7-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.