Review by Booklist Review
A determined tween harnesses newfound powers to help save magic in her tight-knit community, navigating complicated friendship dynamics and family demands along the way. After her twelfth birthday, Kyana learns that she descends from a line of magicians who emigrated from Winzhobble to the Park Row neighborhood of Rockford, where "Magicks . . . live in harmony with everyone else." After the Magick Board slates Ms. Mo's Park Row Magick Academy for closure, Kyana enters a citywide baking contest, hoping the prize money will save her school. Potion making and baking have a lot in common, but one misstep proves a recipe for disaster for this big-hearted and brave girl. Elle tackles weighty topics--including educational equity and dementia--with tenderness and thought, and fans of her YA novel Wings of Ebony (2021) should recognize familiar themes of birthright and fortitude. Positive female relationships and fantastical humor (particularly around animals) round out this warm food- and family-centered story. A charming middle-grade series starter, with several of Memaw's legendary recipes included.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A Black sixth grader with a lot on her plate goes up against professional cooks in this whimsical culinary fantasy. Finally old enough to be in on the family secret, Kyana Turner learns around her 12th birthday that she's a witch. She's excited to train her blossoming magic--white sparks that "fizz from my fingertips"--during her mandatory training at Park Row Magick Academy, a free Saturday school run out of the back of a Black-owned beauty salon. But magic must be kept a secret, and the necessary lies Kyana tells to keep hers under wraps begin to take a toll, as do her dropping math grades and looking after her increasingly forgetful grandmother, Memaw, while Momma works. When the magic school faces threat of shutdown, the students' families must either find a way to swing tuition at another academy or be sanitized of their magic. Desperate to save her school, Kyana enters a baking competition with a $50,000 grand prize--where using her powers backfires, threatening the powers of Park Row's magical residents. Successfully illustrating themes of class separation and economic opportunity across a mostly Black cast, Elle (Wings of Ebony) builds a story of familial love and friendship and tops it with pure culinary enthusiasm. Ages 8--11. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (Aug.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A sixth grader discovers her magical abilities and must navigate her new world while holding on to what means the most. Kyana Turner didn't believe her mom when she said that she'll get to learn the family secret now that she's turned 12--not until her fingers sparked. Once Kyana learns that she's a witch, life drastically changes, which means lying to her best friend, Nae. She begins attending Park Row Magick Academy, a secret school located at her hair salon, but normal life doesn't stop, and Kyana juggles learning new spells and improving her math scores with keeping an eye on her Memaw, who has Alzheimer's, to help ease Momma's burdens. When financial pressures threaten to close her magic school, Kyana jumps into action by entering a baking contest that offers a $50,000 prize. However, her magic gets out of control as she's baking, things go terribly wrong, and Kyana must work with unlikely allies and push past her fears if she wants to save her magical community. This fast-paced, heartfelt story deliciously blends realism with the whimsy of the mystical. Themes of inequity and self-worth are explored through Kyana's narration as she rises to the additional responsibilities she receives, but they are balanced with sweet moments like time spent in the kitchen making Creole food with Memaw, who is from Louisiana. Kyana and the majority of the cast are Black. A charming story of magic, love, and community. (Fantasy. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
