Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures

After nine-year-old Pip Bartlett inadvertently instigates a unicorn stampede, she is sent to spend the summer in Georgia with her Aunt Emma, a dedicated vet for magical creatures. Morris provides the lively and jubilant voice of Pip—the perfect tone for the story, which is told from Pip’s first-person perspective. She also provides a variety of voices for a rich cast of secondary characters—both human and magical—which adds to the story’s enjoyment. Reader McGowan steps in to narrate the excerpts from Pip’s favorite book, Jeffrey Higgleston’s Guide to Magical Creatures, which are scattered throughout the story. He provides a prim and proper delivery in tune with the encyclopedic tone of the fictional guide; the result is an amusing contrast to the main story. Ages 8–12. A Scholastic Press hardcover. (Apr.)