Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts (The Academy for the Unbreakable Arts #1)

During a field trip on her 12th birthday, pale-skinned, red-haired Kelcie Murphy is suddenly attacked by ice fairies, including her longtime social services case worker, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Escaping them, she is transported, via a magical tree, to the Lands of Summer and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts, which trains elite warriors to defend against creatures from the Lands of Winter. There, she undergoes testing for admittance, manifesting previously unknown air powers and earning a spot in the element-controlling Saiga Den, a Slytherin analog looked down upon by the other Dens for its association with a traitor. Sorted into a small student group, Kelcie begins her training and hopes to learn her true parentage, even as her arrival coincides with mysterious attacks upon the academy. If abundant “magical school” tropes make this Celtic-tinged story’s fodder feel well trod, Lewis’s (The Color of Dragons) fanciful telling with a largely white cast successfully centers a resilient heroine tapping into her unrealized potential. A glossary of legend-inspired terms concludes. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sally Wofford-Girand, Union Literary. (Mar.)