Grasshopper Magic (Magical Mix-Ups) - Softcover

In addition to her first two books about the Willow family, Hamster Magic and Lawn Mower Magic, LYNNE JONELL is the author of the popular Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, a Booklist Editor's Choice, and one of School Library Journal's Best Books of the Year.  She has also written three other novels and seven picture books.  She has never eaten a grasshopper, but that's only because she hasn't found a magic one yet.

BRANDON DORMAN has created hundreds of illustrations for books and magazines, including the cover art for the Newbery Honor Book Savvy. He loves string cheese and sunflower seeds, and once licked a slug. He lives in Puyallup, Washington, with his wife and two rambunctious sons.

Gr 2-4–The Willow children are back for more magical escapades in this easy chapter book. Abner is dismayed to learn that he has inadvertently volunteered to march in his town's historical festival, dressed as his namesake, General Abner Willow. What if he falls off the horse? Or forgets the lines to his speech? His siblings devise the perfect solution–he needs bravery practice, which comes in the form of baked grasshoppers. Mrs. Delgado, the seamstress who comes to the house to sew Abner's costume, is delighted when she sees the children catching grasshoppers. “Back in my home country, we would catch all the grasshoppers we could find. Then we would eat them like you eat pretzels!” Abner is horrified. Young readers will be happily grossed out as he and his sister chomp on some baked and salted grasshoppers, and they will be amazed to find the siblings springing 20 feet into the air after consuming them. Since grasshoppers begin as eggs laid underground, they were able to soak up all the magic that is located in the town's soil. While having grasshopper magic is fun at first, the children quickly realize that there is a problem–Mrs. Delgado took home some grasshoppers for her two-year-old son, and the children have to act quickly to stop him from eating them and bouncing away. Dorman's charming pen-and-ink illustrations do a fine job connecting readers to the story. While the magical elements might seem a bit contrived, the book's target audience will buy into these aspects without a lengthy explanation needed.–Lisa Kropp, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NYα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.