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A review by onceuponacarm
A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
4.0
A sweet story about magic, love, family, friendship, and home.
The Pickle family can't seem to put down roots, much to Felicity's disappointment. She and her little sister are sick of first days of school, of being the new kids, and of wandering all over the country. This time, though, they're headed to their mom's hometown, Midnight Gulch, which "used to be" magical. Like people who lived there actually had some magic in their veins and could do things like make it rain by singing or bake pies with secrets that were revealed by the eater. When they arrive, Felicity begins learning about the town's history, how it lost its magic, and how her own family is wrapped up in the lore. She also discovers there's more than a "snicker" of magic left in this old town, as well as a whole community to love. Is the Pickle family cursed? What happened to the town's magic? How can Felicity managed to get over her stage fright and convince her wanderlust mother that Midnight Gulch IS home?
Notes:
There is a tradition of The Beedle--an anonymous person in town who does random acts of kindness to help those in need (a lot like Stargirl). The current Beedle, Jonah, has a gift of knowing when someone is in need and just what will help them. He's also incredibly kind, sincere, and practically too good to be true. He's wheelchair bound, but this is just a small part of who he is and is not really addressed in the story.
There are a LOT of characters and subplots. Perhaps because I read this in one day, I didn't have trouble keeping track of everybody and their stories. Some examples: Jonah's father is fighting in an unnamed war; Felicity's father left the family, but she never finds out/understands why; the bus driver has a crush on Aunt Cleo; the town is famous for it's ice cream, including an exclusive flavor that makes one recall memories.
Felicity is able to "see" words, similar to someone with synesthesia. She collects words in a notebook and often creates little poems for her sister, but is terrified of sharing her words with anyone else. When her class holds a talent show, Jonah encourages Felicity to read her poems to the whole community because he got a feeling this would make all the difference for her problems.
There are maybe two scenes set at school, even though I'm pretty sure this takes place during the school year. It ends in October and at the beginning of the story the girls are starting off at their first day of school. It just seems strange that school is pretty much an afterthought--that's just not how it works! As a plot device, it created a reason to hold a talent show and learn a bit of the town's history, but this could have been accomplished in other ways and allowed the story to take place mostly over summer vacation. I don't see a reason to squeeze in school scenes, especially when the purposes served by the school could have been served by a library or something.
Felicity also makes up words and uses them a LOT. "Spindiddly" is one of her words, which gets pretty annoying. As did the repetition of the phrase "a snicker of magic." I'm okay with including the title of a book in the text, but not like 3 or 5 times. I really enjoy Felicity's love of words, her collecting of words, the descriptive and visual language...but the nonsense words just drove me nuts. It felt like trying, and failing, to channel Roald Dahl.
I don't think this really captured the tone of the story. It was an enjoyable read and I cheered for the characters. It reminded me in a good way of Three Times Lucky (which I didn't like). I can see kids liking this one, if only I can figure out a succinct and enticing way to recommend it! It would make for a good classroom read-aloud or book club book for 4-6 graders.
The Pickle family can't seem to put down roots, much to Felicity's disappointment. She and her little sister are sick of first days of school, of being the new kids, and of wandering all over the country. This time, though, they're headed to their mom's hometown, Midnight Gulch, which "used to be" magical. Like people who lived there actually had some magic in their veins and could do things like make it rain by singing or bake pies with secrets that were revealed by the eater. When they arrive, Felicity begins learning about the town's history, how it lost its magic, and how her own family is wrapped up in the lore. She also discovers there's more than a "snicker" of magic left in this old town, as well as a whole community to love. Is the Pickle family cursed? What happened to the town's magic? How can Felicity managed to get over her stage fright and convince her wanderlust mother that Midnight Gulch IS home?
Notes:
There is a tradition of The Beedle--an anonymous person in town who does random acts of kindness to help those in need (a lot like Stargirl). The current Beedle, Jonah, has a gift of knowing when someone is in need and just what will help them. He's also incredibly kind, sincere, and practically too good to be true. He's wheelchair bound, but this is just a small part of who he is and is not really addressed in the story.
There are a LOT of characters and subplots. Perhaps because I read this in one day, I didn't have trouble keeping track of everybody and their stories. Some examples: Jonah's father is fighting in an unnamed war; Felicity's father left the family, but she never finds out/understands why; the bus driver has a crush on Aunt Cleo; the town is famous for it's ice cream, including an exclusive flavor that makes one recall memories.
Felicity is able to "see" words, similar to someone with synesthesia. She collects words in a notebook and often creates little poems for her sister, but is terrified of sharing her words with anyone else. When her class holds a talent show, Jonah encourages Felicity to read her poems to the whole community because he got a feeling this would make all the difference for her problems.
There are maybe two scenes set at school, even though I'm pretty sure this takes place during the school year. It ends in October and at the beginning of the story the girls are starting off at their first day of school. It just seems strange that school is pretty much an afterthought--that's just not how it works! As a plot device, it created a reason to hold a talent show and learn a bit of the town's history, but this could have been accomplished in other ways and allowed the story to take place mostly over summer vacation. I don't see a reason to squeeze in school scenes, especially when the purposes served by the school could have been served by a library or something.
Felicity also makes up words and uses them a LOT. "Spindiddly" is one of her words, which gets pretty annoying. As did the repetition of the phrase "a snicker of magic." I'm okay with including the title of a book in the text, but not like 3 or 5 times. I really enjoy Felicity's love of words, her collecting of words, the descriptive and visual language...but the nonsense words just drove me nuts. It felt like trying, and failing, to channel Roald Dahl.
I don't think this really captured the tone of the story. It was an enjoyable read and I cheered for the characters. It reminded me in a good way of Three Times Lucky (which I didn't like). I can see kids liking this one, if only I can figure out a succinct and enticing way to recommend it! It would make for a good classroom read-aloud or book club book for 4-6 graders.