The Spell Book Of Listen Taylor

The Zing family lives in a world of misguided spell books, singular poetry, and state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. They use these things to protect the Zing Family Secret -- one so huge it draws the family to the garden shed for meetings every Friday night.
Into their world comes socially isolated middle grader Listen Taylor, whose father is dating a Zing. Enter Cath Murphy, a young teacher at the elementary school that Cassie Zing attends, suffering from a broken heart. How will the worlds of these two young woman connect? Only the reader can know!

his is an unusual book that delights both adolescents and adults. A great Mommy-daughter read. Moriarty is an intelligent writer that has an unusual way of looking at the world. Her use of language is refreshing. Highly recommend.

The description of this book -- a 12 year old who gets involved with her stepmother's magical family and a spell book she finds in their house -- sounded good, but the voice is very YA, so much so that a spell book that you can only open one page of a day ends up sounding very childish. The author seems less interested in the protagonist than in the girl's stepmother and teacher. It didn't surprise me to read that she is a YA writer. I just don't think many 12 year olds will care what the stepmother and teacher are thinking about and worrying about -- and I don't many older teens will be all that interested in the protagonist.

This is an unsuccessful rewrite of the adult novel, "I have a bed made of Buttermilk Pancakes". There is not enough in it about Listen Taylor herself and too much of the book is dedicated to the musings of Marbie Zing, Fancy Zing and Cath Murphy ( the Grade school teacher) who are all having ( or contemplating having) extra-martial affairs. Listen's contribution to the book is minimal except that she is eventually the catalyst for the family Zing's secret ( that Cath Murphy is actually Fancy and Marbie's half sister through their mother's affair with a famous actor)being revealed. Can't say whether I like it or not - it kept me engaged but it is essentially an adult book.

OK, I didn't finish this book 'cuz I just can't. Rare for me to stop caring about characters or find out how conflicts are resolved, but the writing style defeated me.

The story follows four different characters. Listen Taylor, who finds a spell book after moving in with her father's girlfriend, Marbie. Fancy Zing and her struggles with her life. Marbie Zing who thinks she may ruin her life with one mistake. And, Cath Murphy, Cassie Zing's second grade teacher. I thought the book would be more about Listen Taylor and the spell book. It is, but it is also about so much more. The Zing family has a secret and each Friday night they meet in the family shed. I enjoyed the book, but was somewhat disappointed in it.

This was an odd book for young adults. It was an odd book no matter who it was written for. Main characters are mostly adults, having affairs, having adult issues. One character is middle school...Listen Taylor. One character is a second grader. Can't think of a single person I would recommend this book to.