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Book Review: How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy

 

How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy

G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readees, 2022

ISBN-13: 978-0593354520

Available: Hadcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

Shay is one of the few students of color at T.K. Anderson Prep. In a world where only licensed magic users can get top jobs, she is a striver. She has a higher level of magical strength than anyone else in her class,  and the second highest GPA. Her rival, with a slightly higher GPA and slightly lower magic level, is Ana.

 

At a meeting about the application process for a scholarship the school offers for a student to attend the University of Wilmington, which offers magic licensing, theater teacher Mr. B, who heads the scholarship committee, suggests to Shay that if she wants the scholarship she should participate in the school play, which is intentionally “diverse”. Shay is a terrible actor, but discovers she has been assigned the lead role of Valeria. Ana, also a student of color, is cast as her sister, Gabriela.

 

As the year goes by, Shay stumbles into friendship with Ana, and then into a (closeted) romance. Mr. B. continues to single Shay out for special attention and private rehearsals, violating her physical space (she does not like to be touched: based on this and other behaviors I think she is coded as autistic). She is uncomfortable, but none of the other kids seem to be bothered by Mr. B. When Shay is accidentally outed, he is cold to her, turning his attention to Ana, until Shay convinces him she isn’t a lesbian, so she can keep his attention and win the scholarship.

 

One night Shay’s dad’s car dies while he is on his way to pick her up from school, leaving her on campus alone. While she is walking the school grounds, she sees Mr. B. and student choreographer Brittany kissing. Brittany is sharing her magic with him, which makes him stronger, but leaves her open to manipulation. Shay decides she has to tell, even if it means losing the scholarship, and does so in such a public way that the administration is forced to act.

 

There’s a lot of subtext on privilege, systemic racism and classism, college admissions, the impossibility of the American dream, and the way sexual and emotional abusers take advantage and get away with it. Mr. B is a truly predatory character and Shay’s eventual confrontation with him is terrifying, At the same time, this is a really sweet rivals to lovers sapphic romance with some great world-building. It’s not truly horror, but it is a wonderful, witchy read that should be relatable to teens.

 

 

Posted on November 15, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Monster Club by Darren Arnofsky and Ari Handel

Monster  Club by Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel

HarperCollins, 2022

ISBN: 9780063136632

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

If you’ve seen The Wrestler, Black Swan, or The Whale, you know Darren Aronofsky is a serious director who directs serious films.  Who knew that he and Ari Handel could write such a seriously fun kid’s book?  A loving tribute to the nerdy, role-playing gamers who still hide amongst the ‘cool’ students in junior high schools across the country, it’s impossible to dislike Monster Club.  It has it all: cool, comic-book styled monsters, light, frothy action that’s its easy to enjoy and laugh along with, and of course, the nerdy kid gets the girl!

 

Set against the backdrop of the famed Coney Island boardwalk, Eric “Doodles” King and his junior high pals, who go by the nicknames of Yoo-hoo, Smash, Hollywood, and Beanie, spend their time outside of school playing Monster Club, an RPG game they designed themselves, a cross between Dungeons and Dragons and pro wrestling. Their characters consist of monster drawings created by the players, each with hit points and attack skills, using some dice and a spinner from the old boardgame LIFE to determine their actions as the characters battle it out for superiority. 

 

Fortune strikes in the form of a Sharpie with magic ink, which allows Eric to draw characters that come to life off the page.  Can he use this gift to help save his dad’s carnival, which is threatened by land developers?  

 

The story sells itself with the characters and breezy, happy nature of the writing. It’s easy to root and relate to the Monster Clubbers since we all knew kids like them when we were kids, charming in their goofiness. Brainy Beanie is a member of a club that designs drones and Smash tends to crash her skateboard, often into lockers.  Of course, they get picked on by the big kids, and can’t play sports worth a damn.  The story picks up the pace and shifts into the crazy fun section when the Sharpie falls into the wrong hands, allowing for creatures such as Noodle Monsters and Crumple Noodle.  The last quarter of the book is insane fun,  reminiscent of the movie Gremlins.  You knew that the gremlins were bad and were wrecking the town, yet you had to laugh at how they did it, thanks to the presentation.  It’s the same with the Noodle Monsters as they go wild on Coney Island.

 

However, the Monster Club creations of Brickman, BellyBeast, Robokillz and their ilk stand ready to do battle and save Coney Island.  The fights themselves are some of the best parts.  They aren’t bloody, they are fun, Gremlins-style.  BellyBeast picks his nose and sticks it in Brickman’s ear, while Brickman himself dishes out some pretty mean ball-shots with his cannonball on a chain to neighborhood bullies.  Readers will be enthusiastically cheering on the good guys in their quest to smash those evil Noodle Monsters and save the carnival.

 

Bottom line here: this is lighthearted fun with a lot of bounce to it, and it’s one all readers of this site would enjoy.  It’s oriented towards the middle grade/early teen crowd, but it’s plenty of fun for adults too, especially those who grew up like the main characters, they will see themselves in the story.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on September 13, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations #1) by B.B. Alston

cover art for Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations #1)  by B.B. Alston

Balzer + Bray, 2021

ISBN-13 : 978-0062975164

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Thirteen year old Amari Peters has some big footsteps to fill: her older brother Quinton was the highest performing student at ritzy Jefferson Academy. Since his disappearance (or possibly death) six months ago, Amari’s grades, and behavior, are slipping, and on the last day of school, she shoves a mean girl who makes a dig about her brother and loses her scholarship, her best opportunity to get out of the Rosewood Projects and go to college. Grounded indefinitely, Amari hasn’t been home long when the doorbell rings and she’s asked to sign for a package that, oddly, has been delivered to Quinton’s closet. Opening the package, Amari discovers she has been nominated by her missing brother for a scholarship to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs training camp. The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs keeps supernatural creatures secret while also protecting innocent humans. Quinton and his partner, “special agents” for the Bureau, have gone missing from the Bureau as well, and Amari decides to attend the camp in hopes of discovering what happened to her brother.

Early on, Amari is discovered to have tremendous magical potential, but this turns out to be a major problem when her supernatural power is discovered to be magic, as magicians are universally considered bad and magic is illegal. Among a throng of privileged “legacy” trainees, Amari’s race, socioeconomic status, and illegal magic make her a pariah among the other trainees, and more determined than ever to qualify to become a Junior Agent and find the answers that will lead to her brother.

While individual elements of the story may sound familiar (a mysterious letter, a summer camp for teenage legacies, mythical and supernatural creatures hidden in plain view, and evil magicians all show up in either Harry Potter or Percy Jackson) B.B. Alston has mixed them up to create something very different. A big piece of that is that Amari, a smart and determined Black girl who already has to prove herself in the outside world, is the point of view character, so we get to see a resourceful character working hard who keeps going even when she’s discouraged by hostility and racism. Nobody hands her a destiny or quest to fulfil, does her homework for her, or makes decisions for her, although she occasionally gets a boost of encouragment from a friend. Alston is also incredibly creative in his world-building (talking elevators with individual personalites, delightful and spooky departmental names and descriptions, gorgeously described magical illusions, magic that can manipulate technology, gossip rags that give you juicy tidbits only when you ask the right questions, and so much more).

Although there are some terrifying creatures and spells, the scariest parts of the book really involve the people who interact with Amari: spoiled mean girl Lara van Helsing, who spreads nasty rumors; evil magician Raoul Moreau, one of the “Night Brothers”; racist kids who draw malicious graffiti on the walls of Amari’s bedroom; Bureau directors certain Amari is a danger to the supernatural world. Amari and the Night Brothers is more of a dark urban fantasy and coming-of-age story than it is a horror story, but it is a great #OwnVoices title that provides a fresh point of view in a genre that seems to be telling the same story over again and again. I’m looking forward to book #2. Highly recommended for grades 4-8

Posted on January 20, 2021 by , Reply
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