A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer
Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2019. ISBN: 9781510202115.
448pp. hbk.
(Age: Teens) Highly recommended. This is a story about a time when
magic was seen to be a bad thing, where people were punished for
doing magic, depending on where you lived depended on the punishment
you received.
Brystal is not aware of her magic abilities, she just has a profound
love of books and reading but unfortunately she lives in a place
where girls are not allowed to read, only boys learn to read and go
to school. Brystal manages to get herself the best job she could
imagine, being the maid cleaning the local library, each night when
she finishes cleaning the library she spends some time reading the
books in the library. One night when she has finished cleaning she
notices a book on a high shelf that she had not seen previously,
when she reaches up to pull this book from the shelf it will not
budge, with a bit of effort the book opens a secret door behind the
book shelf where Brystal finds a collection of forbidden books, and
this discovery will change her life forever. One night while she is
reading one of the forbidden books The Truth about Magic she
learns that she is a Fairy. When she is discovered doing magic her
life takes a turn for the worst.
Brystal ends up in the Bootstrap Correctional Facility for Troubled
Young Women. She has never been so cold in her life, but a ray of
kindness finds her with one of the other girls bringing her extra
blankets during the night, and they build up a friendship which
makes the place more bearable.
One day Madame Weatherberry arrives at the facility and takes
Brystal away to become a student at her school for magic. Brystal is
unsure about this to begin with but begins to enjoy the new
adventure and meets some new friends who are in similar situations
to her.
Through Madame Weatherberry's kindness Brystal starts to learn to
use her magic. But there is something mysterious going on at the
school and their teacher is not telling them the whole truth. When
Madame Weatherberry does not return to the academy Brystal tells her
classmates about what is happening and together they are determined
to save Madame Weatherberry.
In the end Brystal learns the truth and has to make a choice about
how she is going to handle the information she had learnt. Brystal
was determined that the tale of magic would have a happy ending.
This book is aimed at teen readers.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a bit of magic and
mystery.
Karen Colliver