THE MAGICAL REALITY OF NADIA
Written by Bassem Youssef and Catherine R. Daly
Illustrated by Douglas Holgate • Jacket Design by Katie Fitch
Middle Grade (ages 8-12) • 176 pages
Scholastic, Inc. • 2021
ISBN: 978-1-3385-7228-5
Nadia is a smart and clever girl, always ready with a fun fact. She has a core group of friends who call themselves the Nerd Patrol, and is proud of her Egyptian heritage.
After spending the summer in Egypt with her cousins, Nadia returns home with an ancient hippo amulet she found in a bazaar. But this amulet is more than a pretty piece of jewelry. It starts to glow when Nadia has a problem and suddenly a magical little man appears on the pages of her notebook. The only trouble is, Nadia doesn’t believe in magic. She is firmly on the side of science and facts. But the inhabitant of her necklace is all too real and she will soon have to change her mind about magic.
At school, Jason, a new student with a difficult personality, makes fun of Nadia and her lunch. But she is more concerned with bigger things: Winning the Museum of American History’s 100th Anniversary contest and the thousand dollars in prize money that goes with it. She is confident that the Nerd Patrol will come up with the winning idea that will be made into an actual exhibit in the museum. But Jason has teamed up with a group of his own and is certain they will win.
When everything goes wrong and even her best friends abandon her because she is too bossy, Nadia needs help from the magical man in her amulet to put her ideas into place and make things right again. In the process, both she and Jason learn that bullying and bigotry are not as powerful as empathy.
This fun, fast-paced story shows how a little magic can help, but a lot of ingenuity and good friends are the true path to winning.
Buy this book:
Barnes & Noble
Bird Meets Worm Bookshop
Independent Bookstores
Reviewed by: Laurie L Young
Middle Grade (ages 8-12) • 176 pages
Scholastic, Inc. • 2021
ISBN: 978-1-3385-7228-5
Nadia is a smart and clever girl, always ready with a fun fact. She has a core group of friends who call themselves the Nerd Patrol, and is proud of her Egyptian heritage.
After spending the summer in Egypt with her cousins, Nadia returns home with an ancient hippo amulet she found in a bazaar. But this amulet is more than a pretty piece of jewelry. It starts to glow when Nadia has a problem and suddenly a magical little man appears on the pages of her notebook. The only trouble is, Nadia doesn’t believe in magic. She is firmly on the side of science and facts. But the inhabitant of her necklace is all too real and she will soon have to change her mind about magic.
At school, Jason, a new student with a difficult personality, makes fun of Nadia and her lunch. But she is more concerned with bigger things: Winning the Museum of American History’s 100th Anniversary contest and the thousand dollars in prize money that goes with it. She is confident that the Nerd Patrol will come up with the winning idea that will be made into an actual exhibit in the museum. But Jason has teamed up with a group of his own and is certain they will win.
When everything goes wrong and even her best friends abandon her because she is too bossy, Nadia needs help from the magical man in her amulet to put her ideas into place and make things right again. In the process, both she and Jason learn that bullying and bigotry are not as powerful as empathy.
This fun, fast-paced story shows how a little magic can help, but a lot of ingenuity and good friends are the true path to winning.
Buy this book:
Barnes & Noble
Bird Meets Worm Bookshop
Independent Bookstores
Reviewed by: Laurie L Young