✨The Magician Next Door (2024)

by Rachel Chivers Khoo

Illustrated by Alice McKinley

4RBooks 5+/6 grades 3-6

Amazon 4.4/5 grades 2-5

Goodreads 4.1/5

Common Sense Media not yet reviewed

197 page

Synopsis

Callie, 10, is miserable. Her mom passed away three years ago, and her father has accepted a new job in Northern Ireland. She had to leave behind her friends, including her best friend Mia, and her extended family of neighbors at the Rose Building in London. She is missing everyone and is extremely upset that she won't be able to go to Mia's birthday party on Saturday.

Callie has lived in her new home for 5 weeks now but has rarely left her bedroom, until one night when there was a tremendous BOOM and the house shuddered. Callie looked outside and saw an upside-down house in her yard and a strangely dressed women in one of windows. Their eyes met and then the house and the woman disappeared.

Callie went outside to investigate and met her neighbor Sam who was also checking out the noise and tremor. All they found were some broken tiles on the ground. The next day, Callie found a paper-airplane note from the women in the window asking to meet. Her name was Winnifred and she was a magician. She was traveling by "wanderdust" when her house suddenly plummeted to the ground. She was now stuck here until her "wanderdust" was found and collected. Would Callie and Sam help.

Callie didn't think of herself as adventurous, but she found herself helping Winnifred, with Sam, to put everything back together. Callie's homesick heart isn't helping, and there are giants and fairies to deal with. While helping Winnifred, Callie may discover there is an adventurous life outside of her four walls, and maybe she has a new home, after all.

Parent Guidelines low

Callie's mom passed away three years ago.

Callie is suffering from extreme homesickness.

Magician's and Magic are major components of the story.

Recommendation

I recently read and reviewed The Wishkeeper's Apprentice, a debut novel by Rachel Chivers Khoo. I enjoyed that story and rated it highly so when I realized she had a second book out, I decided to read that, too. I'm very pleased to say that it was also an excellent read for children and I can highly recommend it.

There was nothing in the story that would be problematic for children and parents except that it's centered around magic and a magician. As long as that type of fantasy doesn't both you, this was a great story with many opportunities for life lessons and character building. It was a little sappy when Callie realized she didn't need to be homesick, but it was presented in a clear and understandable way for children.

This would be a great book for a classroom library, school library, class read aloud, or small group discussions. It's a lowercase Harry Potteresque plot and there seems to be room for future sequels. Awesome illustrations throughout the story to highlight the action.