Spell Sweeper

In a quirky riff on magic school tropes, Fodi (The Secret of Zoone) enlivens familiar elements through a resourceful, humorous narrator. As part of the Magical Occurrence Purger track at western Canada’s Dragonsong Academy, 13-year-old Cara Moone is a spell sweeper in training, learning to tidy away the spell dust left behind by wizards accessing the Field of Magical Matter. The job is crucial—left alone, magical residue “morphs, expands, and takes on a life of its own,” becoming feral—but Cara, who hails from a nonmagical Irish American family, nevertheless resents being thought of as a slacker. When spells start going awry, leaving behind toxic black gunk through a “giant, puckering mouth,” Cara and her fellow spell sweepers must figure out how to stop the problem before the feral magic wreaks havoc. Convinced that golden brown-skinned Harlee Wu, Dragonsong’s 15-year-old star student and so-called “Chosen One,” is to blame, Cara investigates her, only for the two to wind up as reluctant partners as the mystery takes them into the nonmagical world. Snarky and resilient, Cara is a memorable heroine with an engaging narrative voice and a unique perspective. Ages 8–12. Agent: Rachel Letofsky, Cooke Agency. (Nov.)