Praise for MISS ELLICOTT’S SCHOOL FOR THE MAGICALLY MINDED: “Chantel is a magical heroine to be celebrated, deportment notwithstanding.” — Kirkus Reviews
“This fantastical adventure is a sheer delight, featuring a smart, kind, and brave heroine.” — Booklist (starred review)
“This book features a strong plot and well-developed characters. Readers who enjoyed Blackwood’s earlier works will not be disappointed. Hand this to fans of Diana Wynne Jones and Shannon Hale. This clever fantasy is a strong purchase for most middle grade collections.” — School Library Journal
“This extraordinary fantasy...has everything a reader might desire: thrilling suspense, a courageous and smart heroine, an elaborately constructed plot, a vivid setting and a moral grounding and nuance reminiscent of Kristen Cashore’s marvelous “Graceling” books for teen readers.” — Buffalo News
“’Magical maiden’ Chantel’s biggest challenge in her education to become a proper and correct sorceress is ‘deportment.’ A magical-school story with welcome diversity (Chantel is black), unexpected reveals, and thrilling surprises.” — The Horn Book
Praise for JINX’S FIRE: “Blackwood offers a story of enchanting texture and depth, and series fans will be elated to have another outing with the sweetly sardonic hero, whose conscience is almost as troublesome as his grasp of spells. Fans of Cornelia Funke should add this to their stacks.” — ALA Booklist
Praise for JINX’S FIRE: “A solid conclusion to a trilogy...threaded with proper amounts of heroism, humor and ingenious twists of character.” — Kirkus Reviews
Praise for JINX’S MAGIC: “This series deserves a permanent place in the children’s fantasy pantheon, with Narnia and Earthsea.” — Booklist (starred review)
“The familiar premise—a magical school where girls train to become proper young ladies—gains some startlingly Dickensian elements in Blackwood’s deft hands...[The] shift in perspective opens up readers’ perspective as well—one more act of storytelling prestidigitation in a story rife with unexpected reveals and thrilling surprises.” — Horn Book Magazine
Praise for JINX’S MAGIC: “The unique setting, smart pace, likable characters, and sprightly voice hold the narrative together while keeping Jinx’s fans eager for more.” — Horn Book Magazine
Praise for JINX’S MAGIC: “As Blackwood extends Jinx’s experiences to other lands, she adds layers of complexity that hint at future developments. The next installment can’t come along soon enough.” — School Library Journal
Praise for JINX: “In this expertly paced, beautifully written fantasy, Blackwood elevates familiar fantasy elements with exquisitely credible characters who inhabit a world filled with well-drawn magic and whimsy.” — Booklist (starred review)
Praise for JINX: “Blackwood fills her tale with drama and delightfully funny dialogue.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Praise for JINX: “Readers will thrill to journey with Jinx. — School Library Journal (starred review)
Praise for JINX: “[Blackwood] puts her central three [characters] through a string of suspenseful, scary situations before delivering a properly balanced closing set of resolutions, revelations and road signs to future episodes.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for JINX: “Flowing dialogue, easy interactions between the characters, a mixed Diana Wynne Jones/Lloyd Alexander vibe, and a setting both familiar and original make the novel immediately inviting and compelling.” — Horn Book Magazine
2016-12-11
Owl's bowels! Someone's kidnapped the sorceresses of Lightning Pass!Atop a steep, twisting street above the walled Kingdom sits Miss Ellicott's School for Magical Maidens—Spells, Potions, Wards, Summonings and Deportment Taught to Deserving Surplus Females. Here, spells are second to deportment as the young students train to be proper sorceresses—"shamefast and biddable." Tall and black, 13-year-old Chantel is the school's most magical maiden, and she doesn't give a hoot about deportment; she just wants to practice magic. After Miss Ellicott and the other sorceresses who keep the city safe disappear, Chantel finds that the remaining adults—all men—are useless. The patriarchs want to continue their iron rule over the city, and the king wants to take control away from the patriarchs. With barbaric Marauders from outside the wall banging at the gates, it's up to Chantel to save the city and its people from destruction from without—and within. Aided by a fire-breathing dragon, a crossbow-wielding boy, and a long-dead queen, Chantel is a force to be reckoned with. The narrative makes fun of the follies of bureaucratic patriarchy, subverting gender roles by reinforcing them, trusting readers to spot the irony. In a hilarious turn, the novel plays with the skin-as-food-color trope: Anna, Chantel's white best friend, is described as having "skin the color of raw chicken." Chantel is a magical heroine to be celebrated, deportment notwithstanding. (Fantasy. 8-14)