Conjure Island

A Black tween discovers she has magical ancestry after meeting a distant relative in this beguiling family mystery by Royce (Root Magic). Because of her father’s military career, 11-year-old Delphinia Baker is used to moving every year or so. Though she’s never really had a chance to settle anywhere, Del insists that she’s fine as long as she has maternal grandmother Gramma (“I don’t need friends... I have you,” Del says). But when Gramma has a health scare, Del is sent to South Carolina to spend the summer with Gramma’s mother Nana Rose, her estranged great-grandmother, whom Del has never met. Nana Rose is nothing like Del expects: she travels on the back of an alligator and runs Vesey Conservatory, a school that teaches conjure magic based in Gullah traditions. While Del is skeptical of magic’s existence at first, when faced with ghost butlers, enchantment-casting teachers, and sentient brooms, her disbelief is replaced by two big questions: Why did Gramma never mention this place, and why did she leave it all those years ago? Royce employs Del’s observant first-person narration to seamlessly weave together an engaging tale of magic, friendship, and family steeped in Black Southern culture that highlights the importance of knowing one’s history. Ages 8–12. Agent: Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, Foundry Literary & Media. (June)