A Snicker of Magic
People with real magic in their veins once lived in Midnight Gulch, Tenn. They could catch stars, dance up sunflowers, even glow in the dark. It鈥檚 the kind of town where Felicity Pickle hopes her wandering family will stay forever. Until they arrived in this mysterious place, she鈥檇 felt like she was from 鈥淣owhere in Particular.... Moving around so much should have made me bold and happy and free.鈥� Strange how I only ever felt lost.鈥�
Felicity Pickle is the protagonist of Natalie Lloyd's delightful debut novel A Snicker of Magic. Her mama, an artist and adventure seeker, claims all the Pickles are nomads. Felicity and her sister Frannie Jo never know when she might wake them in the middle of the night and leave town. Even though there are enough aunts, uncles, and friends to make Midnight Gulch home, if all the magic has moved out, Mama doesn鈥檛 want to stay.
But Felicity has a bit of her own magic. She鈥檚 a word collector. Words shimmer around her, even when she鈥檚 squinting at the cloud of exhaust billowing out of their old car鈥檚 tailpipe: Spunkter, Sumpter, Siffle-miffle. Bright words swirl around her sister as she skips into her new classroom: Popsicle, Paper star, Poppy-seed muffin.
Yes, Felicity collects words and sees a sky full of them. But they鈥檙e a mess if she tries to say them to more than one person at a time. 鈥淭hey melt on my tongue like snowflakes. They disappear right off the edge of my lips, and I end up standing there blinking, openmouthed, like the Queen of Dorkville.鈥�
She says them fine when she鈥檚 talking to her mama and her little sister, even to her new friend Jonah. Now Jonah has a plan to help Felicity share her love of words and it might just mean all the Pickles will stay.
Before she met this boy who knows a lot about the town鈥檚 curses and riddles, Felicity hadn鈥檛 figured on the magic that鈥檚 left in Midnight Gulch. Jonah knows the town鈥檚 characters, the magical ice cream, and even a way Felicity might be able to stay in Midnight Gulch. A snicker of magic might not be much, it might be leftover or 鈥渘ot as fancy as it used to be,鈥� but perhaps it鈥檚 enough.
Lloyd鈥檚 debut novel has much more than a snicker of magic. Yes, the cast of characters is vast and varied. The story is multi-layered. There鈥檚 a bit of mystery as well as that magic. And a complicated plot. But the appealing thing to young readers will be how real this all feels. The magical and the realistic are closely intertwined in such lyrically beautiful language that the story feels like it could happen next door, in an adjoining classroom, or on their very own auditorium stage.
Felicity Pickle and her friends have the perfect word for awesome. Spindiddly! That鈥檚 exactly how I feel about "A Snicker of Magic."
Augusta Scattergood regularly reviews children鈥檚 books for the Monitor.
