The Magic Misfits: you can’t go wrong with a bunch of misfits you want to win the day!

“When street magician Carter runs away, he never expects to find friends and magic in a sleepy New England town. But like any good trick, things change instantly as greedy B.B. Bosso and his crew of crooked carnies arrive to steal anything and everything they can get their sticky fingers on. After a fateful encounter with the local purveyor of illusion, Dante Vernon, Carter teams up with five other like-minded kids. Together, using both teamwork and magic, they’ll set out to save the town of Mineral Wells from Bosso’s villainous clutches. These six Magic Misfits will soon discover adventure, friendship, and their own self-worth in this delightful new series.”

The Magic Misfits tells the story of young Carter, a runaway searching for his place in the world. He’s running away from his horrible uncle, a life of stealing and a life of uncertainty. When he boards the roof of a train, he never imagines that he will end up finding a group of people who accept him and his magical skills. 

Carter runs away from his uncle and stealing, only to run into problems because of stealing. A scary man running a carnival accuses him of stealing and asks him to join the carnival, but Carter knows better. Carter then runs into Mr Vernon. A much kinder and less scary man, who invites Carter to his magic shop the next day (having sensed that there was something magical about Carter). What follows in the next few days are adventures, overcoming bad guys, standing up for yourself and others and finding his place in life. Essentially Carter finds a bunch of kids who want to invite him into their friendship group and eventually Carter accepts this. 

The cover is BRILLIANT (hello David Litchfield) and the illustrations made my heart so happy.

I had SUCH high hopes for this book. Saying that I didn’t DISLIKE it. It was just nice. (Nice is one of my least favourite words in the English language). It was fine. I really liked Carter, there was something to him. I also really liked Mr Vernon. I hope he comes back in future books. The bunch of kids were the thing that kept me in this book. If the plot of the next ones is better, and more pacey then they’ll be winners for sure! I’m interested to hand this to one of the kids at school to get their opinion. For me it fell a bit flat, with likeable characters. The rest of the series should be interesting, to see where the characters and their magical abilities are taken! There’s a very Count Olaf-y vibe about this book… I’m still not sure how I feel about that!

Have you read The Magic Misfits?
Are you surprised I’ve read ANOTHER magic book?
Can you recommend me a magic book (kids or YA) that you’ve never seen me talk about? I want more!

Let me know in the comments your thoughts about this! I’d love to talk. This book has me in an interesting quandary.

S x