The Magic Thief, by Sarah Prineas

Title:  The Magic Thief
Author:  Sarah Prineas
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Year:  2008
Pages:  422
Genre:  Fantasy
Themes:  Adventure, Belonging, Magic
Age Range:  3rd-6th Grade

Summary:  (from Goodreads)

In a city that runs on a dwindling supply of magic, a young boy is drawn into a life of wizardry and adventure. Conn should have dropped dead the day he picked Nevery's pocket and touched the wizard's locus magicalicus, a stone used to focus magic and work spells. But for some reason he did not. Nevery finds that interesting, and he takes Conn as his apprentice on the provision that the boy find a locus stone of his own. But Conn has little time to search for his stone between wizard lessons and helping Nevery discover who or what is stealing the city of Wellmet's magic

Review: 
Being the fantasy lover that I am, I fully expected to enjoy this book, and I was not disappointed.  In the magical city of Wellmet, where you live determines almost everything about you.  People who live in the Twilight are destined to be poor and live their lives scrambling to survive.  Citizens of Sunrise are the wealthy and privileged of the city.  Conn, the main character, is from the Twilight area of the city, making his living by picking locks and pockets.  An orphan, Conn is very skilled at taking care of himself-until he meets the wizard Nevery.  Suddenly he is thrown into situations that his life has not prepared him for-a wizard's apprentice, in school, meeting the most powerful people in the city.  In Conn, Prineas has created a character  of incredibly honesty and heart.  Once he realizes that the magic is in danger, he thinks nothing of his own safety.  And while he does not always tell the whole truth, he never tells a lie, even when it would be expedient to do so.

There is only a small amount of backstory given for the way that magic and the city are connected, but it is enough that the reader can fully appreciate the plot without feeling like there are holes in reason or logic.  Even fantasy novels have their own internal rules, and the world that Prineas has created is at once familiar and new, and she takes old ideas about magic from other fantasy writers and makes them her own.  As seems to be the norm these days, especially with fantasy and science fiction novels, this is the beginning of a series, of which there are currently three.  I'd recommend them for a classroom library for fluent readers ages 8 to 12.

Any Which Wall, Laurel Snyder

Title:  Any Which Wall
Author:  Laurel Snyder
Publisher:  Random House Books for Young Readers
Year:  2009
Pages:  256
Genre:  Fantasy
Themes:  Time Travel, Magic, Childhood
Age Range:  3rd-6th Grade


Summary:  (from Goodreads)
Four kids, a mysterious wall, and a good helping of common magic!
If you had a magic wall that could take you to any place and any time, where would you go? Would you want to visit castles and desert islands? Would you want to meet famous wizards, terrible pirates, beautiful queens, and dastardly outlaws? If so, then you are just like Henry and Emma, and Roy and Susan—and you will probably like this story a lot. In fact, you might even wish something similar would happen to you!

In Any Which Wall, author Laurel Snyder proves that you don’t have to be an orphan, know a dragon, or even be a child to get a taste of magic. You just have to keep your mind open and willing to let it happen. And when you do find magic (like Henry, Emma, Roy, and Susan), you might be surprised that along with all the fun, you also find out new things about your friends, your family, and maybe even a little bit about who you really want to be.


Review:  
This is a charming story about four average kids who have an extraordinary adventure.  The narrator has a Lemony Snicket sort of vibe, talking to the reader and showing insight into the mind of a child.  And the whole book reminded me of the Narnia books, which was clearly an influence on Snyder.  What I liked most about it was the fact that the magic that the kids find is not what they or the reader might think.  Nothing turned out exactly as they expected from the wishes they made at the wall, but they learned more in the end about themselves and the world as a result.  I think this is a great addition to any classroom library.  

The Cabinet of Wonders, by Marie Rutkowski

Title:  The Cabinet of Wonders
Author:  Marie Rutkowski
Publisher:  Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux
Year:  2008
Pages:  258
Genre:  Historical (?) Fiction, Fantasy
Themes:  Family, Freedom, Adventure, Magic
Age Range:  4th-6th Grade


Summary:  (from Goodreads)
Petra Kronos has a simple, happy life. But it’s never been ordinary. She has a pet tin spider named Astrophil who likes to hide in her snarled hair and give her advice. Her best friend can trap lightning inside a glass sphere. Petra also has a father in faraway Prague who is able to move metal with his mind. He has been commissioned by the prince of Bohemia to build the world’s finest astronomical clock.

Petra’s life is forever changed when, one day, her father returns home—blind. The prince has stolen his eyes, enchanted them, and now wears them. But why? Petra doesn’t know, but she knows this: she will go to Prague, sneak into Salamander Castle, and steal her father’s eyes back.

Joining forces with Neel, whose fingers extend into invisible ghosts that pick locks and pockets, Petra finds that many people in the castle are not what they seem, and that her father’s clock has powers capable of destroying their world.


Review:
I read this book fully expecting to really like it.  A blend of two of my favorite genres, historical fiction and fantasy, sounded like a recipe for enjoyment.  Unfortunately, I think that it needed a pinch more history.


Rutkowski is clear in the afterword that she took historical figures and events and completely changed them to suit the purposes of the novel.  She also says that she imagine some uptight history lovers sniffing their nose at her complete disregard for the historical record.  Well, I certainly don't think of myself as uptight, but  am going to turn up my nose slightly.  Some of the characters are based on actual people who lived during the 16th Century.  The geopolitical climate is similar to what was true at the time.  And the Roma, from which group two of the main characters derive, is certainly real.  But some of the history is changed not at all, some if changed a little, and some is completely fabricated.  Not in an "imagine if THIS one thing has gone differently" sort of way, but just kind of randomly to suit the story.


That said, most fourth or fifth grade readers of this book are not going to know any of the above, and Rutkowski does tell you in the afterword what was factual and what was made up.  But my real issue is that I don't think that she needed to base her story in the real world at all for it to work.  Basically it's the story of a young girl fighting the injustice of an evil king using magic-there is nothing inherently "real world" in the plot that would have required the use of actual people and actual places.  But, I imagine that younger readers, unlike me, will not really focus on that aspect of the book, and it is a good story.  The people who have magical powers have unusual ones-not just the ability to do spells or, say, levitate objects, but the ability to manipulate matter to make something at once mundane and magical.  Metal pets that grow and talk, marbles with water or lightning inside that multiples one-hundredfold when broken, a beautiful clock that can change the weather.  This is a land where skill is just as important as power, and that is a good message for anyone.