From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026

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What Members Thought

Wendy
Oct 03, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
I was ready to be all "This is like The Dark is Rising but with West African setting and mythology instead of British!" Skimming the comments below, I see that Harry Potter is apparently the proper comparison. Have I lost all credibility because I haven't read Harry Potter?

This is a long book. It isn't so much super-long as that it has a lot of stuff going on. I thought to myself halfway through "It is OKAY that this is so long, because maybe she decided it would be better as one long book than
...more
Kris Springer
Wow. Setting is probably the strongest element--the imagination in this story is tremendous. 4 young people will fight a terrible criminal with juju and find themselves. Sunny is the protagonist--she is albino and lived most of her life in the US until her parents brought her and her brothers back to Nigeria. Believable characters, believable magic too--humor, emotion...just a great story. Can't wait for the next one. ...more
Jess
Jun 29, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: juv, fantasy
It's refreshing to read middle grade fantasy where the premise doesn't sound familiar or forced. Not that there's anything wrong with taking a familiar idea and putting a new spin on it - and I know that kids eat up those kinds of familiar stories, which feel approachable and comforting rather than repetitive. There are some enough familiar elements to make the story approachable, though - a girl who discovers that she has a magical heritage is thrown into a series of adventures with new friends ...more
Rachel
The climax comes a little too swiftly but the rich setting and characters are so engaging, and the diverse sense of magic is very refershing.
Kathy
Jan 16, 2011 marked it as abandoned-2011  ·  review of another edition
Kathryn
May 19, 2011 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, ya
Monica Edinger
Aug 18, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Jenna
Dec 12, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: young-adult, fantasy
Linda
Nov 26, 2012 marked it as to-read
Alison
Jan 12, 2013 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Megan
Nov 23, 2014 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Celeste
Aug 01, 2015 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
J.j.
Sep 01, 2016 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Jen
Feb 10, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Sara
Aug 16, 2017 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Kristy
Jun 15, 2017 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: author-of-color
Dan
Aug 12, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Kristen
Oct 17, 2017 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Carah
Oct 26, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
June
Dec 23, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Kathy
Aug 05, 2018 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Jean
Sep 03, 2018 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: audiobooks
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