The Root of Magic

March 15, 2019
A 12-year-old with a sick brother chooses between supernaturally comforting certainty and painful reality. Returning from Canada, Willow, her mother, and her 8-year-old, chronically ill brother, Wisp, nearly die in a car accident in rural Maine. Thank goodness for their rescuers, a friendly couple who bring them to a B&B in an isolated snowbound community. Willow's mother panics about Wisp, whose extremely rare, undiagnosed condition means frequent hospitalizations and constant risk of death, but the snowstorm and the accident have left them without cellphones, car, or escape route. At least the people of tiny Kismet, Maine (all 173 of them), are helpful and kind--if also a little spooky. It's as if the locals know what's going to happen before it comes to pass. Can Willow cope with her mother's obsessive overprotectiveness of Wisp, get home to Vermont, and learn Kismet's strange secret? The townsfolk all appear to be white, like Willow and her family, and Franco-American--descended from early Acadians. Kismet's not remotely believable (this infinitesimal, magically isolated village somehow supports both a hospital and a movie theater), and the magical rules are only slightly more credible. But the emotional truths Willow and her mother confront are wrenching and genuine, albeit not as meaningful as they'd be if Wisp were a fully developed character in his own right.Works better as fable than as fantasy. (Fiction. 9-12)

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May 1, 2019

Gr 5-7-Twelve-year-old Willow, her sick brother Wisp, and their mother are driving home from a hockey game in a blizzard when they are left stranded in the snow and mysteriously rescued by two townspeople from Kismet, ME. With no cell phones and no way out, Willow's mother begins to panic about Wisp, whose undiagnosed illness means frequent visits to the hospital and constant risk of death. While her mother frets, Willow notices strange things about the town. The innkeeper knows to set out an extra cot in Willow's room for Wisp before she has even met them, and the cook at the diner seems to have their food ready for them before they even order. It is not until Willow's worried mother becomes overly confident that Wisp will be okay that Willow seeks the truth about Kismet. This book attempts to answer questions about free will but often falls short. Though readers will sympathize with the choices Willow and her mother must make, other characters lack depth-particularly Wisp, who feels more like a plot device than a fully developed character. While it takes Willow time to guess Kismet's secret, readers will be quick to figure out the twist. VERDICT An additional purchase.-Katharine Gatcomb, Portsmouth Public Library, NH

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