Wednesday, November 12, 2014

A Snicker of Magic (2014)

A Snicker of Magic. Natalie Lloyd. 2014. Scholastic. 320 pages. [Source: Library]

A Snicker of Magic would be a great choice for fans of Wendy Mass' 11 Birthdays or Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn Dixie. It has that oh-so-magical-feel to it, a certain rightness somewhere between charm and sweetness.

Felicity Pickle is the heroine of Natalie Lloyd's Snicker of Magic. She is oh-so-easy to love. She's a word-collector. She's an awkward public speaker. She doesn't have the easiest time making friends. But she's a wonderful person, very lovely. I loved seeing her relationship with her sister. I did. But nearly as much as I loved her developing relationship (friendship) with Jonah. I loved, loved, loved every scene between Jonah and Felicity. Well, to be honest, I loved most of the scenes in general. I loved meeting so many characters, hearing so many stories, learning all about the town in the past and present. I cared. To sum it all up, this is a book where it is easy to CARE.

Felicity is tired of moving around. She wants to find a place for them all to settle down. And she's really, really hoping that that place to settle down will be Midnight Gulch, the place her mom grew up, the place her aunt still lives. The novel opens with Felicity, Franny Jo, and their mom arriving in town...

From start to finish, the book is lovely. One of those rare books where you could open it up to almost any page and find something to smile about or a quote to share. For example: "Making new friends, in a new place, when you're the new girl, is harder than fractions" (25). That being said, I could have done with a little less spindiddly vocabulary.

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1 comment:

Jaina said...

This looks really good! I love the Willow Falls books.