If you took Little House on the Prarie and Harry Potter and mixed it up in a bowl, this charming story is what you'd get as a result. In Eff Rothmer's world, where magic is the norm, a thirteenth child is considered to be a curse. Everyone knows a thirteenth child is filled with evil magic and will always go bad in the end. Eff is the thirteenth child in her family and no one in her home town is going to ever let her forget it. To make matters worse, Eff's twin brother Lan is the seventh son of a seventh son and the whole town believes he will someday become one of the most powerful magicians of all time. To protect Eff and Lan from the prejudiced influence of family and neighbors, their parents decide to move out west and settle in the western frontier--where dangerous magical creatures roam and no one knows Eff and Lan's birth order. The rules of magic in this fictional world are wholly believable. The attention to detail makes you sometimes forget it is not a historical novel you are reading. Unfortunately, this is only the first book in a series, so if you want to learn more about Eff and Lan's adventures you will have to wait for it. I'll be the one on hold ahead of you.
Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...
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