Some Kind of Magic

March 1, 2015

Gr 6-8-During their last summer before high school begins, Cass, Jemmie, Ben, and Justin are all looking for something different. When Ben's younger brother Cody finds a magical fedora that was owned by their missing uncle, things begin to change. The hat leads them to an abandoned building with a tragic history. Despite some reservations, the kids break into the building and find that there seems to be something there for each of them. They nickname their new hangout "Nowhere" and promise to keep their exciting discovery secret. It stays that way until a mishap exposes more about their hideout than they would have guessed. Written from multiple points of view, the book gives each of the characters a chance to weigh in on their summer through their own chapters, but the voices all tend to blend together. The dialogue is often clunky and makes it difficult to really get a grasp of the various personalities. The glimpses of personality that do shine through tend to feel stereotypical. VERDICT Fogelin works to include diversity of experience, but unfortunately, this novel falls flat.-Amanda Augsburger, Moline Public Library, IL

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2015
Old friends Ben, Cass, Jemmie and Justin start high school in the fall, so this might be their last summer together; though they hope for an exciting summer, they get more intrigue than they bargained for. "Here's the thing," says Ben. "We've lived in this one place our whole lives. And nothing ever happens here." But his little brother, Cody, just seven days shy of 7, finds an old fedora in the closet, and mystery and magic ensue. Cody wears the hat everywhere and claims it has powers: He actually hits shots in basketball, discovers an abandoned building in the woods and finds answers to family secrets. The abandoned building becomes the kids' secret hideout, though secrets are hard to keep for Cody, who's included in the older friends' summer plans. The young teens know they're changing, and the narrative, related in each of their voices, effectively dramatizes the complexities of friendships and budding romances. As some stretches are in the first-person and others are in the third, the shifting of points of view sometimes fragments the story and diffuses rising tensions. Still, the mystery of the abandoned building and its connections to Ben and Cody's family will pull readers into the tale and hold them to the end. A fine, complex tale of family, friends and magic. (Fiction. 10-14)