CM Magazine: Dragon Overnight. (Upside Down Magic #4).

________________ CM . . . . Volume XXIV Number 33 . . . . April 27, 2018

cover

Dragon Overnight. (Upside Down Magic #4).

Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle & Emily Jenkins.
New York, NY: Scholastic (Distributed in Canada by Scholastic Canada), 2018.
183 pp., hardcover, $19.99.
ISBN 978-1-338-11115-6.

Grades 2-5 / Ages 7-10.

Review by Janet Beauchamp.

**** /4

excerpt:

It felt great, this kind of magical gymnastics. He swung so he could push off the wall again and jumped with his knees and chest together, forming a tight ball…

"Ha!" he heard, and panicked. Someone else had laughed as well. Someone standing on the floor below.

Then came more laughter. From several someones.

Andreas floated to the ceiling and looked down. There were four kids he had never seen before: two boys and two girls. The kids from the other school had arrived…

Drat.

"Don't stop now!" the taller of the girls said.

Andreas cringed. He hated the way the students with typical magic at Dunwiddle School made fun of him. Some of them, anyway. Would these kids be the same?

This installment of the "Upside Down Magic" series takes the kids from the Upside Down Magic (UDM) class at Dunwiddle School on a field trip to stay over for a few nights at Dragon Haven, a rehabilitation facility for dragons. The main character, a young lady named Nory, and her group of friends who are in the UDM class, make every day interesting due to their quirky magic. The kids in the UDM class are a little different than everyone else as their magic doesn't quite work like it should.

The magical talents of the students at the magic school include Fluxers like Nory who can turn their human selves into animals, Flickers who can become invisible, Flyers who, as their name suggests, fly, Flares who make fire, and Fuzzies who can communicate with animals.

In Dragon Overnight, Nory and her friends get to learn all about the different types of dragons while meeting new friends from the school where her dad is the headmaster. The students from Sage Academy are also on a school trip, and they have very high expectations placed on them while those from Dunwiddle are encouraged to follow their gut when selecting which activities they select while at Dragon Haven.

Dragon Overnight is most definitely my favourite book in the series so far. Having the setting in the new environment and seeing Nory interact with her father and the students from Sage Academy was a great way to further develop her character. It was also a nice change from constantly worrying about the bullying by the other students at Dunwiddle. Andreas went on some amazing adventures with his flying magic, and Bax caused quite a stir by leaving the group just to get a sweater. The UDM students branched out beyond their comfort zone both in terms of their relationships and the use of their magic. Dragon Overnight is a definite must-read for fans of the series, but it could also be read by anyone interested in magic and dragons as a stand-alone novel.

Highly Recommended.

Janet Beauchamp, a high school teacher and teacher-librarian and mother of three girls, lives in L'Amable, ON.

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