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When I was in the 9-12 age range, some of my favorite books were mysteries, particularly the kind where no one got hurt and I got to play along at home. Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, "Alfred Hitchcock", (though I could never guess those twists. The diamond was in the python, who was in the acrobats' baton?!) I think Oona Crate and The Wizard of Dark Street would have made little-me very happy and will certainly become a mainstay in my More...

The mainly drawback that I found with Dark Street was the lead-up to the resolution of the mystery was not as methodical as I have seen in other mysteries. We'd be shown scenes and interview characters, but Oona would come away with no real clues. Answers would then suddenly dawn on Oona much later with a "why didn't I realize that before!" This did not allow us as the readers to come to the same conclusion as Oona. I found myself flipping back to previous chapters to see where such information More...

Here's what this book has:

--an orphan girl named Oona with an innate talent for magic, a gift that led to a terrible tragedy a few years ago
--a fascinating place, Dark Street, poised between a gate leading to our world at one end (which opens for just one minute ever night) and a gate to the fairy realm, locked after a fierce war some years before
--a mystery that could threaten the very existence not just of Dark Street, but our world as well, and cast our orphaned heroine out into the streets
-- More...

While most kids would kill to be the next Harry, Hermione, or Ron, Oona gives up her apprenticeship with the Wizard of Dark Street to pursue her dream of becoming the next Sherlock. All she has to do is to help her Wizard uncle find a worthy replacement. Easy as cat’s craddle until someone decides to do away with her uncle. Now Dark Street is without a Wizard – and Oona must figure out who was behind her uncle’s death and how to save the Wizard’s legacy from the greedy clutches of the Red Martin More...

Oona Crate, the wizard's apprentice, has natural magic. This means she must have, albiet ever so slightly, some faerie blood running through her veins. But, she doesn't want to use magic, or be the apprentice...since her magical ability went awry, killing her mother and sister accidentally. Her uncle, The Wizard of Dark Street took her in since her father, too, had been killed years before.

Now, all Oona wants to do is be a detective, especially since the town's inspector is a bumbling idiot. Wo More...

The Wizard of Dark Street's niece, Oona, would rather be a detective than a wizard's apprentice. When disasters befall both her uncle and a snooty neighbor, she works overtime to solve both mysteries and save the day. Odyssey put together a very clever whodunit; especially for a middle grade mystery, this will keep you guessing. The story is worth reading for that alone. However, the setting for this mystery was disappointingly Disneyfied - with a simply sketched set, stock characters, cartoony More...

An enjoyable book for middle readers, this book stars 12-year-old Oona, who is apprentice to her uncle, who is the Wizard of Dark Street.
After a horrible tragedy that killed her mother and baby sister, Oona is determined to forever give up practicing magic. Instead, she wants to start her own detective agency. On the night Oona is supposed to sign away her right to all the benefits of the wizard's apprentice and when a new apprentice is to be chosen, a major magical crime against the wizard is More...

When Harry Potter ended, some people pointed to Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" as the next big children's book...course it became Suzanne Collins "Hunger Games" but since the games have ended, the question arises "What children's novel will follow in the path set by J.K. Rowling and her 'Harry Potter' novels?"

I believe I have found the answer in a man from my own hometown named Shawn Thomas Odyssey. In "The Wizard of Dark Street" he introduces us to a magical world hidden in New York circ More...

After seeing Shawn Thomas Odyssey read the prologue to THE WIZARD OF DARK STREET, I knew I had to read this book. The deliciously sinister feel to the magical world, the idea of a 12-year-old solving mysteries, and the simple fact that Oona (the MC) has a raven for a best friend all suggest a great combination within the book's pages.

Well, let me tell you, this story does not disappoint. I was flipping the pages to find out the whodunits and to see how all the seemingly separate mysteries would More...

Review via Cracking the Cover
Charming is the best word to describe “The Wizard of Dark Street.” The main characters are just what you’d hope — quirky and multifaceted. Readers will root for Oona as she goes down her list of suspicious characters. And despite the book’s dark material — an attempted murder — its tone is light.

Author Shawn Thomas Odyssey has captured the essence of mystery writers of old while maintaining his own voice, making “The Wizard of Dark Street” captivating for readers of More...

Within the space between two worlds exists the last of the 13 faire roads called Dark Street. Situated on the North end of the street are the Iron Gates. These gates connect Dark Street to New York City at precisely 12am every night. At the South end of the street are the odious Glass Gates. These gates lead to the world of the fairies and were sealed 500 years ago by the great magicians at the end of the Faire Wars. Dead center of Dark Street is the Pendulum House which is home to the Wizard. “ More...

The cover to Shawn Thomas Odyssey's The Wizard of Dark Street promises a gothic, but comic story. As I read, I imagined a cast of character actors, the likes of Jim Carey and Sacha Baron Cohen, in key roles. Indeed, the short novel could very well mark the beginning of a Lemony Snicketty series.

While neither the plot nor the magical paraphernalia, created for the Dark Street environs,are nearly as involved or as original as J.K. Rowling's Hogwartian realm, I do think that young readers of her g More...

After a display of magical talent wipes out Oona Crate's mother and sister, she swears off magic forever, despite the fact that she is a natural magician. Deciding to be a private investigator, Oona prepares leaves her position as a Wizard's apprentice to her uncle, but when he is hit by a dagger and vanishes, she must use her skills to uncover an apparent murder. Odyssey's work is very reminiscent of Ibbotson, with quirky magics and strong femlae characters. Oona and her raven companion have a More...

Oona Crane lebt zusammen mit ihrem Onkel Alexander, dem obersten Magier und gleichzeitig ihrem Lehrherrn , in der Dark Street einer magischen Straße, die an die Grenzen New Yorks stößt. Zusammen mit ihrem sprechenden Raben versucht sie sich als Detektivin, doch bevor sie ganz in die Fußstapfen von Sherlock Holmes treten kann, muss sie erst ihren Lehrvertrag als Zauberlehrling lösen. Kaum ist der große Augenblick gekommen und die neuen Anwärter für den Posten des Zauberlehrlings sind eingetroffen More...

My daughter and I really enjoyed this. For a kids' book, it was really well-crafted. There was hardly a moment in the first chapter that didn't relate, somehow, to the solution of the mystery. There were red herrings that genuinely threw me off, and there were things that, when revealed, made me think, "Oh, of course!"

The only character I found puzzling and under-developed was Isadora. I had a hard time understanding her motivation, and there's at least one thing she did that, as far as I can t More...

Being 12 years old and a natural magician is one thing, but also hating the idea of actually using magic, and then being the Wizard's apprentice is just something all together.

At least Oona's uncle, who happens to be the Wizard of Dark Street, understands her reasoning in not wanting to pursue magic and instead wanting to open a detective agency. But when her uncle goes missing, she must use all she can to find him...unless he has died.

I really enjoyed this story, and liked how it allowed the a More...

I really have a thing for fantasies set in worlds that lay alongside ours. The blurring of the edges between what we think of as reality and those magical worlds fascinates me, which is probably why I love the Harry Potter series so much (and why I’m working on a couple of stories with those kinds of worlds myself). The Wizard of Dark Street takes place on Dark Street (oddly enough), a little neighborhood that’s linked to New York City, but is actually a bridge between the normal world and the L More...

Oona, the 13 year old sleuth of this YA fantasy/mystery, lives on Dark Street, a one street town lying between the New York of 1876 and the land of the Fay. Every midnight for one minute there's an open gate between NYC and Dark Street, and the rest of the time the city is inaccessible. Oona was apprenticed to her uncle, the Wizard of Dark Street, their only wizard, and the person who protects the town against possible fairy attack. Three years before the book starts, she accidentally killed her More...

Shawn Thomas Odyssey’s middle grade debut novel is creative, colourful and imaginative. He dreams up a protagonist called Oona Crate who is something called a natural magician, believed to have a small amount of fairy blood in her makeup which makes her able to do magic naturally rather than by learning to manipulate elements etc. However, several horrible things happen which lead to Oona renouncing magic and this in turn leads to the Magician of Dark Street (who is incidentally also Oona’s uncl More...

The Wizard of Dark Street
Shawn Thomas Odyssey
345 pages
MG fantasy
Available July 26, 2011
Review copy from publisher

From Egmont:

Oona Crate was born to be the Wizard’s apprentice, but she has another destiny in mind.

Despite possessing the rare gift of natural magic, Oona wants to be a detective. Eager for a case to prove herself, she wants to show her uncle—the Wizard of Dark Street—that logic is as powerful as magic. But when someone attacks the Wizard, Oona must delve even deeper into the world of More...

The Little Bookworm
12 year old Oona is destined for the position of Wizard's Apprentice since she is a rare Natural Magician. But all she wants to do is start her own detective agency. When the current Wizard, also Oona's uncle, is stabbed with a magic knife, it's up to Oona to figure out who purported the crime.

This was a great mix of fantasy and mystery so it combined two of my favorite genres. Oona is a girl detective and those are the best kind. She is smart, witty, clever and loyal to her More...

This book (a first for this writer) really did hold my interest and should do well among younger readers. His main character is engaging: for intelligence, wit, humor, creativity. Odyssey has a very graphic style of writing, including vivid small details and compelling metaphorical comparisons. I think that younger readers (in the 8-12 age range) will go wild over this book, and I can see it being made into a popular animated movie. I am well over age 50 and really enjoyed the plot and suspense. More...

First in a series that I think kids will enjoy. I think it will appeal most to fourth and fifth grade girls who are better readers. Oona is ready to give up her chance to be the apprentice to the Wizard of Dark Street, because she'd rather be a detective. This first book sets up how she can be both.

Just an aside...typos really bother me, and I found three glaring ones as I was reading.
Waived for waved, loan for lone, and where for were....ack!

Despite this being for older children to the tween audience, I found it to be well written with a mystery I had trouble figuring out, and I'm 38. It was that well done. This book has been nominated for an Agatha Award,which are for mysteries and I feel that it is well deserved. I look forward to new mysteries for Oona to solve. Your "Harriet the Spy" and "Encyclopedia Brown" fans will appreciate Oona and your "Harry Potter" fans will love the the magic.

What a wonderful fantasy mystery! Since accidentally causing a family tragedy, Oona Crate has shunned her magical abilities. She refuses to become the next wizard apprentice instead relying on facts and science with the dream of becoming a detective. When her beloved uncle and guardian is attacked and possibly murdered, Oona decides she will use all her powers to find the truth or she will die trying. I hope we see more of Oona in the future.

Read the bound proof and was thoroughly entertained. The best adventures are the ones that make you feel as though you have actually been transported to another world. Wizard of Dark Street does this with imaginative characters, exciting scenarios, and a mysterious, magical location. Children and young adults will love it. Those of us who nurture our own inner-child love it too!

This is a fun fun murder mystery set in a nether world between the dangerous land of Faerie and our mundane, human world. Dark Street is protected by a Wizard and our heroine is a young disgruntled apprentice who yearns to be a detective. Just months from her formal adulthood, her uncle (the Wizard) is attacked and she must quickly solve the mystery or lose her house and possibly all of Dark Street. The search for clues is entertaining, as are her supporting familiar, her captive Faerie general/ More...

Excellent read! A mystery with an intelligent and spunky protagonist, lots of potential assailants, a crime based in old and dangerous magic, and just enough twists and turns to keep readers thinking! Perfect for fans of Blue Balliet, the Red Blazer Girls, or Ellen Raskin!

Pretty cute mix of magic and mystery. Not particularly groundbreaking or astoundingly original, but still solid and with some appealing characters. I'm assuming it's going to be a series, because practically everything becomes a series, and if so I'll check out the next one.