Witchlings
by Claribel A. Ortega
From
the publisher, Scholastic Press: available April 2022
A
magical adventure for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers and Nevermoor, about
three witchlings who must work together to do the impossible if they have any
hope of earning their full powers.
Every
year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings who participate in the
Black Moon Ceremony are placed into covens and come into their powers as
full-fledged witches.
And
twelve-year-old Seven Salazar can't wait to be placed in the most powerful coven
with her best friend! But on the night of the ceremony, in front of the entire
town, Seven isn't placed in one of the five covens. She's a Spare!
Spare
covens have fewer witches, are less powerful, and are looked down on by
everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic
circle to seal their coven and cement themselves as sisters, it doesn't work!
They're stuck as Witchlings—and will never be able to perform powerful magic.
Seven
invokes her only option: the impossible task. The three Spares will be assigned
an impossible task: If they work together and succeed at it, their coven will
be sealed and they'll gain their full powers. If they fail... Well, the last
coven to make the attempt ended up being turned into toads. Forever.
But
maybe friendship can be the most powerful magic of all….
I
am always a sucker for witch stories, fantasy, something that takes me away to
another place. This did exactly that. Along with the books listed above, I’d
add The Apprentice Witch by James Nicol.All
the witches have the areas they excel in and get sorted into covens. Three do
not and are called the Spares. I liked how the three very different girls are
thrown together and have to sink or swim together to do the impossible task. It’s
more than an adventure, it’s a mystery with good witches and bad warlocks, nice
families and not so nice families, rich and not rich. There was a small part at
the end that felt a little preachy, but that might be an adult perspective.
There is a very nice full circle moment when the girls find out what their names
mean and why they got those specific names. And the names are all very unique.
I
Color Myself Different by Colin Kaepernick
From
the publisher Scholastic Inc: available April 2022:
When
Colin Kaepernick was five years old, he was given a simple school assignment:
draw a picture of yourself and your family. What young Colin does next with his
brown crayon changes his whole world and worldview, providing a valuable lesson
on embracing and celebrating his Black identity through the power of radical
self-love and knowing your inherent worth.
I
Color Myself Different is a joyful ode to Black and Brown lives based on real
events in young Colin's life that is perfect for every reader's bookshelf. It's
a story of self-discovery, staying true to one's self, and advocating for
change... even when you're very little!
First
a funny story – I read this book – it is an advanced reading copy and it wasn’t
making sense and I felt like it was backwards. When I got to the end, I discovered
it WAS backwards. LOL Not sure how it got printed that way, but it was an
adventure and then really made sense when I read it the correct way. Even though
it was from the back of the book forwards. Someone else got this ARC and theirs
started at the beginning, so mine was just a fluke. Anyway… onto the story.This
felt like a very special book from the start. It was inspiring to see a child embrace
being different, being adopted, being special. He loved his brown skin and he
loved his family. He was proud of it and that made all the difference. It’s a
profound story.
There
is a spread with other people who inspired him and changed the world and gave
him confidence to be himself, like Toni Morrison and Muhammad Ali They are
listed in the back and with their accomplishments.
Reading Kaepernick's bio in the
back was eye opening. Seeing the different ways he has made an impact
and difference, just like his heroes, was touching to read.
