Sophie Escabasse

Summer has come to Brooklyn, and eleven-year-old witch-in-training Effie Huchbolt-Walloo is absolutely distraught to be separated from her best friends for the next month. Oliver is attending a robotics day camp; Berrit is off to a sleepaway camp in upstate New York; Garance is visiting her grandmother in France; and Selimene and Carlota are sending Effie to Raccoon Camp, designed to help young witches foster a connection with nature (though of course she can't tell Berrit and Oliver as show more much!).

As if this isn't bad enough, on her first day of summer vacation, Effie awakens to find a panda named Henry in her bed! (Being a witch is nothing if not exciting.)

Turns out that Henry is Carlota's nephew - and the previous resident of Effie's room - who had been living in the Bronx Zoo for the past year, ever since heartbreak transmogrified him into a panda. Now he's the newest camp counselor at Camp Raccoon (and Effie's de facto safety blanket).

Unsurprisingly, Camp Raccoon is every bit as awesome as Selimene and Carlota promised, with two glaring exceptions: the lake (Effie can't swim!), and resident mean girl, Sonia. Though - spoiler alert! - Effie conquers the former, will the latter prove to be her undoing when a game of truth or dare goes awry?

The WITCHES OF BROOKLYN series is absolutely charming, and S'MORE MAGIC is no exception. Escabasse introduces us to a plethora of new characters (Henry the panda, and his crush/fellow camp counselor, Moji; Effie's new witch friends, Cora and Ivan; Gertrude the oak; and Fiona and Beecher, the camp's "eco-militant" founders), while still giving us cameos from those we've come to know and love (Lion, Carlota, and an impossibly fierce Selimene).

The concept of a "green thumb" and expanding one's power by tapping into the flow of shared energy is pretty great too; right now, I'm halfway through Season 3 of HARLEY QUINN, and it's giving vibes of Ivy trying to access the shared consciousness of the plant world ("the green") in order to save Frank (though in a much more PG rated way, obvs). And the denouement - which, spoiler alert!, involves a dragon - is *chef's kiss* perfect.

I didn't totally love the resolution with Sonia - but, then again, if Effie had managed to befriend yet another enemy, I'd probably just complain that it was unrealistic (*shrug*). show less

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley.)

The summer has sadly come to an end, and Effie and her friends are about to start middle school (junior high?): Berrit is studying drama, while Oliver is enrolled in school that offers robotics classes. Effie and Garance are off to the same school, one that emphasizes sustainability (and magic?). For these two undercover witches-in-training, their twelfth year is especially significant: this is when young witches consult show more a seer to evaluate their potential for developing dangerous magic. It's witch law, after all.

Effie's evaluation goes sideways pretty quickly. Her seer, Becky, is a mermaid - which catches Effie off guard, especially so since she just heard the seagulls at the beach gossiping about a mermaid's return. (Ever since she accidentally awakened a dragon in S'MORE MAGIC, Effie can understand some animal species. Nbd.) As it happens, Becky's sister Iruna went missing a month ago, not long after the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island. Becky implores Effie, Selimene, and Carlota to investigate - and lends Effie the talents of her turtle friend, Professor Sir, to aid in her communication with the gulls. The path to Iruna is paved with heartbroken illusionists, combat magic, and time travel (!).

I've been devouring the WITCHES OF MERMAIDS series, and SPELL OF A TIME might be my favorite one yet. (Although, how do you compare dragons to mermaids? It's a toss up ... until you throw in time travel, that is.) Escabasse manages to introduce one new mythical creature in each installment, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. (Sasquatch, maybe?)

I don't love that the kids are mostly scattered this year, but hopefully Escabasse will devise plenty of hijinks to throw the Scooby gang back together. As always, Effie, Selimene, Carolta, Garance, Francis, and Lion are an engaging, eclectic group, and Escabasse expands the 'verse with the addition of Becky, Iruna, Walter and - of course! - the very boopable Professor Sir.

She also introduces a darker, more worrying element in the form of Effie's evaluation, which should be an interesting avenue to explore in future volumes.

I especially love the environmental bent this series has taken; the caper kicks off when Effie and her classmates are cleaning up the beach, which leads her and Garance to wonder about using their magic to rid the ocean of microplastics. And Effie's ability to communicate with animals is especially promising, doubly so in light of Carlota and Selimene's vegetarianism. show less

Adorable! Is it weird that I love the current theme in kids books attacking gentrification and loss of housing? Because I do -- and this is another one, albeit with a unique, ghost based storyline. The characters are both well written and expressively drawn, and I love love love that Helene and Adele are such strong female characters, clearly from a line of strong women. Also love the period party in the beginning of the story -- wonderful to model a healthy attitude towards women's bodies, show more and celebrating a somewhat challenging transition. Just so full of positive messages without being didactic or boring. Delightful! show less

Adele is startled to learn she has inherited her family's ability to see ghosts. Her grandmother wants nothing to do with ghosts, but her sister Helen - who didn't inherit the ability - is excited. Adele meets ghosts all over the city, including some who oppose the same kind of luxury buildings Adele's grandmother's activist group are protesting. With some ghosts' help, Adele finds a way to use her abilities as a medium to resolve conflict and align efforts to save their community.

Set in show more Montreal in the wintertime, this shares a city setting and wry humor with Escabasse's Witches of Brooklyn series, but Adele is a bit older and more independent.

Quotes

"I don't know how to be a ghost either. Nobody knows how to be anything, really."
"That's why there are books!" (Ambroise and Adele, 56)

"Every car is a ghost's taxi, really." (83)

"At least they can't touch the apartment! ...A witch in Brooklyn gave me a spell that works wonders!" (91) show less