The Mystwick School of Musicraft

This playful romp through a musical alternate world where live music generates magic is both simple and elegant. The characters are interesting, though admittedly most outside of the main characters feel two-dimensional. The characters that matter most are still deep and convincing, however. As a children's book, this is a wonderfully well-crafted option for bedtime stories. It gets a bit spooky and a bit emotional, but without taking a dive too deep for elementary school kids. A thoroughly enjoyable read! Pros: Delightful, interesting, yet easy to absorb alternate world. Musical in both theme and tone. Vibrant main character. Kid-safe. Great message/lesson about confidence and class. Cons: Formulaic, magical school trope. Despite the setting, only <10 characters are memorable enough for me to describe at any length. The others are mentioned, then kind of left to the imagination. In short, the book hits the target audience well. I'll be reading this to my 4-year-old.

excellent. magical and full of mystry