Kylie the Magnificent

Volume XXVII / Issue 38 - June 4 / 2021

Kylie the Magnificent

Author: 
Marty Chan
Series: 
Orca Currents
Victoria, BC: Orca, August, 2021
115 pp., trade pbk., pdf & epub, $10.95 (pbk.)
ISBN: 
9781459828070 (pbk.)
Grades: 
Grades 4-7
Ages: 
Ages 9-12
Review by: 
Review by Christina Pike (Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy)
4
Excerpt: 

The first round of tryouts for the magic club’s talent show was packed. Every magician in the club wanted a chance to get onstage. I had joined the club just six months back, but I had already learned some pretty amazing tricks. I wanted people to ooh and aah with wonder at my magic. I wanted them to clap for my tricks. I wanted them to jump to their feet and sheer for me. But all that would have to wait. Right now I just wanted to puke.

So far I had only ever done this trick in front of my bathroom mirror. Now I had to do it in front of Peter, the show’s director and head of the magic club. My nerves were getting the better of me. I had to hold my hands to keep them from shaking.

Peter looked up from his clipboard and grunted. “Well, the stage is yours, Kylie. Let’s get going, shall we? I have a lot of acts to see today.”

He headed off the stage and took a seat in the front row, clicking his pen over and over again as he waited for me to start.

Kylie the Magnificent is about 14-year-old Kylie who is auditioning for a magic club’s talent show. She lets her nerves get the better of her and isn’t sure if she made the first cut. She could sabotage her best friend’s audition but decides friendship is more important. When they both are uncertain of their chances, they decide to team up. This is when Kylie lets her ambition overpower her sense of what is right and wrong. She pushes away her friend Min and is left wondering how she can fix everything.

Marty Chan writes about more than just a couple of 14-year-olds who want to be magicians. He also writes about family, and friendship. Through this audition, Kylie learns a great deal about herself and how far she will go to get what she wants. Ultimately, she also learns how far she should go and still feel good about who she is.

Kylie the Magnificent is a must-read.

Highly Recommended
Reviewer: 

Christina Pike is the principal of Macdonald Drive Junior High in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.