Juneberry Blue

March 11, 2024
Ransom (Only Margaret) takes cues from “Sleeping Beauty” in this story about an enchanted Southern town and the tween determined to revive it. Morning Glory, Va., has all but faded from maps since the Juneberry Blue soda factory closed. Only eight residents—including 11-year-old Andrea Jennings—remain. All that could change if Andie inherits her matrilineal family’s flair for crafting life-changing recipes that feature juneberries from the nearby magic-touched orchard: a new, charmed dish could reignite tourism, generate much-needed business for the Jennings’s failing diner, and maybe even bring Andie’s truck-driving father home for good. But when her recipe flops, Andie discovers a far greater gift within: she can communicate with ghosts. After learning that the local spirits need her help with a locked tower and a mysterious stranger, Andie and pragmatic friend Tanner unravel secrets “scabbed with mold,” and realize that anything worth doing needs intent, belief, effort, and faith. Sentient plants and otherworldly cats round out an amiable cast in this gently magical tale that centers nature, ecology, and connection. Characters read as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Victoria Wells Arms, HG Literary.

April 15, 2024
A sentient plant, hereditary magic, and a dilapidated town in the Blue Ridge Mountains set the stage for this folksy story steeped in fairy tales and local history and snaked through with tendrils of magic. It's the summer of Andie's 11th year, which means it's time for her to face her Test Day, when she'll demonstrate her family's gift, one that's passed down generationally to the eldest girl. Using key ingredients--notably "juneberries picked from the seven old original trees by the spring at true dawn"--she should be able to create a magical, life-changing recipe. For Andie, that means bringing her truck driver father home for good. But fate has other plans for her. Rather than inheriting this culinary gift, Andie finds that instead she can see and hear spirits. These ghosts have deep connections to the once-thriving factory town that's covered in morning glories and the special soda, Juneberry Blue, that was produced there. When a property developer with dubious intentions makes an appearance, it's up to Andie (and some otherworldly helpers) to save the town. Though the story has some loose threads and convoluted plot points, it's charming and moves quickly. Fairy-tale aficionados will delight in the parallels and references to well-known stories peppered throughout. The intermingling of magic with everyday life adds interest, although this element, too, raises some unanswered questions. Most characters are coded white. Kids save the day in this story filled with mystery, magic, and small-town mythos. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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May 1, 2024
Grades 4-7 Andie is one of eight residents left in Morning Glory, a once-bustling company town devastated by the closure of its special soda factory, which sent her father on the road to work. Despite mounting misfortunes, Andie still has something to look forward to: as the eldest daughter in her magical family, she's meant to come into new powers on Midsummer's Eve, and she plans to use those abilities to call her father home. Nothing goes as hoped, though the sudden appearance of apparitions indicates she might have inherited a different kind of gift. One spirit, a small white cat, leads her to the abandoned factory, and Andie realizes it might be the key to restoring the town and bringing her dad home. The bewitching book easily invokes the intimacy and eeriness of a small town in decline, and marvelous magic realism brings a hint of ""Sleeping Beauty"" to the proceedings. Dreamy descriptions, comforting nostalgia, and close relationships coalesce into a sweet, summery story perfect for any reader seeking a touch of mystery and magic.

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