The Multiplying Menace (Magic Repair Shop)

Gr 4—6—Twelve-year-old Maggie is truly magical: the wishes she utters really do come true. Her magic isn't always perfect, though (she might get caterpillars when wishing for butterflies), and sometimes it gets a little out of control. This is the case when her wishes get her kicked out of school and on her way to Connecticut to spend a year with her grandmother while her parents are in South America. She thinks she's in for a terrible year, but Maggie discovers some surprising family history and gets a job in a magic repair shop fixing magic that has gone awry: dewarting frogs, grounding magicians' assistants who won't stop levitating, and taming decks of cards that bite their owners' fingers. Everything seems perfect until Milo the Magnificent arrives and starts creating all kinds of trouble. Maggie, with the help of her new friends (including a talking rabbit), stops him before he can create a real disaster. While the story gets a little complicated, the plucky characters and engaging plot will draw readers in and have them waving their wands in hopes of making the next book in the series appear.—Amanda Moss Struckmeyer, Middleton Public Library, WI