e-Audio, 09:43:45
Narrated by: Imani Parks
Release Date: August 30, 2022
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing (US)
Read from: September 6-7, 2022
Park Row Magic Academy, #1
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Microaggressions
For Readers Interested In: Magic, Elite Magic School, Middle Grade, POC MC, Author of ColorNYT bestseller J. Elle makes her MG debut in the delightful story of a girl who bakes up a plan to save her inner-city magic school.
Twelve-year-old Kyana has just discovered she’s a witch! This means classes every Saturday at Park Row Magic Academy, a learning center hidden in the back of the local beauty shop, and Kyana can’t wait to learn spells to help out at home. The only downside is having to keep her magic a secret from her BFF, Nae. But when the magic school loses funding, the students must pay huge fees at the fancy school across town or lose their magic! Determined to help, Kyana enters a baking contest with a big cash prize. Will she be able to keep up her grades while preparing for the competition and without revealing her magic? What about when a taste of magic works its way into her cupcakes?
Exciting up-and-coming author J. Elle combines the perfect balance of real-world issues and magical mishaps to create real magic.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I’m not always a huge fan of MG, but when I do choose a title, it’s usually one I’ve been wanting to read for a long time or it’s by someone I’ve read before. And this time, this book checked both boxes. I needed another magic school to escape into after finally leaving that other one behind, so I’m thinking Park Row Magic School is the next best.
Let’s start with the magic school. Y’all I had SO MUCH FUN at Park Row! First of all it was Blackity, Black, Black and I loved it. Like y’all, it is IN THE BACK OF A HAIR SALON! I’ve been anticipating that ever since I heard about it. Lol I just knew it was going to be cool. It’s separated just by a talking wall, but it’s named and an actual character in the book. It also talked about hair types, it talked about coconut oil in potions, there was someone in J’s; LOVE TO SEE IT. Like even the way she did potions by adding different ingredients to recipes was super cute. I LOVED it. Everyone that reads this is going to learn and experience some Black culture and I love that.
The only thing that I was a little bummed about was the plot. There were way too many things happening at once. There was the saving of the school, the friend thing, the baking thing, and more. I know we all had a lot happening when we were that age, but when it comes to books, it kind of got to where it was overwhelming. I know it’s a series opener, but man it felt like all it was doing was introducing all these different problems that she’ll solve in the future. When in reality, the main plot was her trying to save the school. I think it could have done well if it had an actual villain. Like something to focus in on instead of being all willy-nilly if that makes sense. Or hell, if anything was answered instead of setting everything up for later.
The magic system itself was pretty cute too. It was well thought out and wasn’t overly simple. There were spells that had to be learned as well as some wand movements. The magic was shown as something easy to learn, but they still needed practice. Definitely not a hard magic system at all. It’s also set in the real world, where no one besides those with magic are supposed to know. Which makes me wonder how things will go in book 2 becauseeeeee…. Well you know.
This book was super cute and super Black. I really enjoyed J. Elle’s journey into MG. It was definitely an interesting first book. I’m going to be first in line with my sister to figure out what happens next.
Overall, I give this
