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River Magic
Magic moves in next door in this middle grade fantasy about a resourceful girl battling a temperamental thunder wizard.
Donna's always liked her life by the river--that is, until her beloved aunt Annabelle died in a tragic kayaking accident. Now money's tight, her mom works all the time, and her best friend, Rachel, would rather hang out with her basketball teammates than with Donna. When a strange old woman moves in next door and hires Donna to clean part-time, she figures this is the perfect chance to get over her friendship troubles and help her family out--especially since the woman pays in gold. Turns out, Donna's new neighbor is an ancient, ornery thunder mage, and it doesn't take much to make her angry. Before Donna knows it, Rachel is in danger and Donna's family is about to lose their home. To save the day, Donna will need the help of a quirky new friend and the basketball team . . . plus the mysterious, powerful creature lurking in the river.
Donna's always liked her life by the river--that is, until her beloved aunt Annabelle died in a tragic kayaking accident. Now money's tight, her mom works all the time, and her best friend, Rachel, would rather hang out with her basketball teammates than with Donna. When a strange old woman moves in next door and hires Donna to clean part-time, she figures this is the perfect chance to get over her friendship troubles and help her family out--especially since the woman pays in gold. Turns out, Donna's new neighbor is an ancient, ornery thunder mage, and it doesn't take much to make her angry. Before Donna knows it, Rachel is in danger and Donna's family is about to lose their home. To save the day, Donna will need the help of a quirky new friend and the basketball team . . . plus the mysterious, powerful creature lurking in the river.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published April 27, 2021
6 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Booraem
8 books40 followersA former small-town newspaper reporter and editor, Ellen Booraem is the author of three fantasies for ages 10 and up: TEXTING THE UNDERWORLD (Penguin/Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013) SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS (Penguin/Dial, 2011) and THE UNNAMEABLES (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Books, 2008).
SMALL PERSONS has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews. THE UNNAMEABLES was listed on ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2010 and the Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Books of 2008.
Ellen lives in Downeast Maine with a cat, a dog, and an artist, in a house they (meaning the humans) built with their own hands.
SMALL PERSONS has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews. THE UNNAMEABLES was listed on ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2010 and the Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Books of 2008.
Ellen lives in Downeast Maine with a cat, a dog, and an artist, in a house they (meaning the humans) built with their own hands.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 26, 2021
If you like sisters (though these two sisters are caught in an uncomfortable relationship of anger and grief and frustration for much of the book) and dragons (a lovely, friendly dragon), and witches (a thunder mage, but still basically a witch) being thwarted, and people being turned into chickens, this is for you!
February 17, 2021
A charming, whimsical, clever contemporary fantasy full of cursed gold, dragons, thunder-mages but also family, dealing with grief, and navigating friendship. It reminded me a bit of Diana Wynne Jones, which is always a good thing!
January 3, 2022
This book was AMAZING 😻! I loved this because of how this book keeps you reading and reading AND READING until the last page is flipped. I loved the characters and the drama. This book kinda reminds of the Wizard Of Oz. Because of the witch and the mystical animals. I loved the sassy older sister Janice, the heroine Donna, and the always wearing sequins Hippie Hillyard. I loved this book.
June 6, 2021
This middle-grade novel is perfect for children who love magical elements and creatures like thunder mages, dragons, pixies, etc. I felt like the story dragged in places and I had trouble engaging with the story, but I can appreciate that it would be a fun book for children who love the fantasy genre.
May 11, 2021
There’s wonder in water.
Whether we’re gazing across a mirror-smooth lake or bouncing over crashing ocean waves or simply skipping stones across a swiftly moving stream, we find wonder in water. There’s a quiet power to it, an energy that is as undeniable as it is indefinable. There is joy and knowledge and yes, there is magic.
Maine author Ellen Booraem offers up some of that wonder in her new book “River Magic,” her latest offering for younger readers. This fantasy tale – aimed at readers 10-12, but accessible to readers on either side of that range – is a story of what happens when magic intrudes on real life. It’s a story about grief and loss and the many ways – some healthy, some not so much – that we deal with those feelings.
It’s also about thunder mages and dragons, a story of inadvertent adventure that celebrates the meaning of family and friendship even as it offers wild weirdness aplenty.
Donna’s having a tough time of it. She’s just 13 years old, living with her older sister and her single mom in a house on a river in Maine. She loves the river, even as she resents it – her Aunt Annabelle, her mom’s sister, drowned in a tragic kayaking accident. Now, money is tight as Donna’s mom tries to do everything she can to keep their home together and their lives on track.
It’s not just at home, though. Donna and Rachel were best friends not so long ago, but it seems as though these days, Rachel’s more interested in hanging out with her new friends on the basketball team than she is in spending any time with Donna. And so, Donna is left to work through her ongoing grief more or less alone – her mom’s too busy, her sister’s too angry and her best friend is too absent.
And then she starts hearing a voice in her head. It’s a voice that knows a lot about her and about her life. She has some theories about the voice and who it is, but she can’t be certain.
Things get even more strange when a new neighbor moves in, a cantankerous old woman with a lot of extremely odd attitudes. But Donna sees an opportunity and gets herself hired to help clean the woman’s house; it’s a chance to forget her troubles and make a little money to help her family. And when she discovers that the old woman pays in gold? Things are looking up.
Of course, Rachel and her new basketball friends are still making fun of her at school. The weird boy with the hippie parents has started turning up a lot more often. Her older sister continues to be a jerk and her mom keeps on worrying. Plus, that voice is still present in her head, raising far more questions than it ever answers.
Not to mention the dragon.
When trouble looms, Donna is forced to deal with the barriers between her and those around her – those that have been built around her and those that she has built herself – in order to protect the ones about whom she cares the most. She will find herself with some unlikely allies as she does whatever it takes to save the day.
Now, while “River Magic” is clearly intended for a younger audience, there’s no disputing that it will work for older readers as well. Heck, I’m a good 30 years past the “recommended” age range and I enjoyed this book immensely. It’s quite a balancing act struck by Booraem here – it’s not too sophisticated for the target audience, yet it’s still narratively engaging in a much broader sense. I do my best to avoid literary snobbery, but books like this do a great job of reminding me that good storytelling is good storytelling, regardless of who the story is actually “for.”
And this is good storytelling.
Young readers will be swept up in the adventure here, of course – there’s transmogrification and dragons and all manner of magical happenings – but they will also be engaged by some topics that will likely prove far more familiar. Struggling with grief after a loss. Growing apart from some friends and making new ones. Doing what’s right in the face of fear. These are all relatable lessons, even when couched in the trappings of fantasy.
There’s real craft here, a wonderful sense of wonder that brings to life a quiet corner of the world suddenly set ablaze with magic … even if it is a magic that might well have been there along. It is that magic – that wonder – that makes this book so appealing, even to a (relatively) cynical (relatively) old reader such as myself.
“River Magic” is a lovely read, a work that takes advantage of its fantastical trappings to tell a very real story about what it means to be a kid. Problems big and small alike loom so much larger when we’re younger; this story shows kids that it’s okay to feel overwhelmed and that their feelings are valid, all while offering up the highs and lows that come with magical encounters.
There’s wonder in water – and Ellen Booraem wades right on in.
Whether we’re gazing across a mirror-smooth lake or bouncing over crashing ocean waves or simply skipping stones across a swiftly moving stream, we find wonder in water. There’s a quiet power to it, an energy that is as undeniable as it is indefinable. There is joy and knowledge and yes, there is magic.
Maine author Ellen Booraem offers up some of that wonder in her new book “River Magic,” her latest offering for younger readers. This fantasy tale – aimed at readers 10-12, but accessible to readers on either side of that range – is a story of what happens when magic intrudes on real life. It’s a story about grief and loss and the many ways – some healthy, some not so much – that we deal with those feelings.
It’s also about thunder mages and dragons, a story of inadvertent adventure that celebrates the meaning of family and friendship even as it offers wild weirdness aplenty.
Donna’s having a tough time of it. She’s just 13 years old, living with her older sister and her single mom in a house on a river in Maine. She loves the river, even as she resents it – her Aunt Annabelle, her mom’s sister, drowned in a tragic kayaking accident. Now, money is tight as Donna’s mom tries to do everything she can to keep their home together and their lives on track.
It’s not just at home, though. Donna and Rachel were best friends not so long ago, but it seems as though these days, Rachel’s more interested in hanging out with her new friends on the basketball team than she is in spending any time with Donna. And so, Donna is left to work through her ongoing grief more or less alone – her mom’s too busy, her sister’s too angry and her best friend is too absent.
And then she starts hearing a voice in her head. It’s a voice that knows a lot about her and about her life. She has some theories about the voice and who it is, but she can’t be certain.
Things get even more strange when a new neighbor moves in, a cantankerous old woman with a lot of extremely odd attitudes. But Donna sees an opportunity and gets herself hired to help clean the woman’s house; it’s a chance to forget her troubles and make a little money to help her family. And when she discovers that the old woman pays in gold? Things are looking up.
Of course, Rachel and her new basketball friends are still making fun of her at school. The weird boy with the hippie parents has started turning up a lot more often. Her older sister continues to be a jerk and her mom keeps on worrying. Plus, that voice is still present in her head, raising far more questions than it ever answers.
Not to mention the dragon.
When trouble looms, Donna is forced to deal with the barriers between her and those around her – those that have been built around her and those that she has built herself – in order to protect the ones about whom she cares the most. She will find herself with some unlikely allies as she does whatever it takes to save the day.
Now, while “River Magic” is clearly intended for a younger audience, there’s no disputing that it will work for older readers as well. Heck, I’m a good 30 years past the “recommended” age range and I enjoyed this book immensely. It’s quite a balancing act struck by Booraem here – it’s not too sophisticated for the target audience, yet it’s still narratively engaging in a much broader sense. I do my best to avoid literary snobbery, but books like this do a great job of reminding me that good storytelling is good storytelling, regardless of who the story is actually “for.”
And this is good storytelling.
Young readers will be swept up in the adventure here, of course – there’s transmogrification and dragons and all manner of magical happenings – but they will also be engaged by some topics that will likely prove far more familiar. Struggling with grief after a loss. Growing apart from some friends and making new ones. Doing what’s right in the face of fear. These are all relatable lessons, even when couched in the trappings of fantasy.
There’s real craft here, a wonderful sense of wonder that brings to life a quiet corner of the world suddenly set ablaze with magic … even if it is a magic that might well have been there along. It is that magic – that wonder – that makes this book so appealing, even to a (relatively) cynical (relatively) old reader such as myself.
“River Magic” is a lovely read, a work that takes advantage of its fantastical trappings to tell a very real story about what it means to be a kid. Problems big and small alike loom so much larger when we’re younger; this story shows kids that it’s okay to feel overwhelmed and that their feelings are valid, all while offering up the highs and lows that come with magical encounters.
There’s wonder in water – and Ellen Booraem wades right on in.
September 24, 2021
This was a very enjoyable read! It starts out with Donna grieving the death of her aunt and worrying about how to make ends meet. Donna lives with her mom (Mim) and her older sister Janice. Her aunt used to live with them and had been planning to start a carpentry business with Mim but her untimely death left the family with a pile of bills and Mim working three jobs. Things are also not great at school - Donna knows her grief has changed her. Her BFF Rachel has started to hang out with other friends, leaving Donna to navigate school with another loner. Her luck seems to be changing when she begins to hear her aunt's voice in her head, providing guidance. Then an older lady moves in next door and hires Donna to clean house. And that's when all the really strange things start to happen! The lady pays her in gold. Donna sees something huge and scaly swimming in the river. And strange chickens keep appearing. Will Donna's desperation to help her family out of financial trouble lead to a completely chaotic situation? Yes - yes it will.
This is the third middle grade book that I have read this year that starts out like realistic fiction and then quickly veers into fantasy. All three have been extremely well done and enjoyable! The first 100 pages are interesting but after that, you will have a hard time putting the book down because you want to know how everything is going to be resolved!
This is the third middle grade book that I have read this year that starts out like realistic fiction and then quickly veers into fantasy. All three have been extremely well done and enjoyable! The first 100 pages are interesting but after that, you will have a hard time putting the book down because you want to know how everything is going to be resolved!
April 14, 2023
Another charming fantasy set in New England. This one concerns middle-grader Donna, her mother, and her grouchy big sister Janice. (Donna's age is never specified, but she's probably 12 or 13.) The little family has a lot to handle; they are grieving after the girls' aunt Annabelle died kayaking in the nearby river, and they have financial troubles, too. Then a grouchy old lady moves next door. At first, Donna thinks this new neighbor might be the answer to their troubles--she hires Donna to clean, and she pays in gold! But it turns out she's an angry, cantankerous Thunder Mage. She turns Donna's best friend into a chicken--and Donna has only a few days to turn her back, or Rachel will be a chicken forever--or however long "forever" is to a chicken.
Add realistic tween conflict, a really delightful dragon or two, an apparently ghostly voice, and a loyal new friend, and you've got a story with wide appeal and some depth. I really, really liked it.
Add realistic tween conflict, a really delightful dragon or two, an apparently ghostly voice, and a loyal new friend, and you've got a story with wide appeal and some depth. I really, really liked it.
August 6, 2021
We needed another book to read aloud to the kids and it needed to be on the kindle since we were traveling, and I found this just from searching what was available for kids in the juvenile section for kindle from our library. It was a delightful find! The kids enjoyed it, especially the dragon. Some parts get a little weird () but in a funny way that so the kids weren't freaked out too much, and of course it's a kids book so it all turns out okay in the end. The dialogue and writing was well done, and multiple times the kids laughed out loud at what various characters said, especially Hillyard and Margily.
A fun, enjoyable book and a good introduction to the fantastical world of dragons to kids.
A fun, enjoyable book and a good introduction to the fantastical world of dragons to kids.
July 26, 2022
This is a middle-grade fantasy with a comic take on dragons, thunder mages, and pixies that avid readers among sixth-and-seventh-grade girls will truly love. I wish I had this book in my classroom library a decade ago for my ESL high school girls who also would've loved it and would have worn it out completely from rereading a book they could actually understand. Beautifully written in a simple, witty, and accessible style. Now that I am a retired teacher and no longer have any class... especially for an old man, I probably shouldn't have enjoyed such a book for girls as much as I did. But I loved it.
September 17, 2021
This is a beautiful book to help our young treasures cope with loss and big life changes. There is a good level of humor reminding me of the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, paired with magic, dragons, mystery, and other surprises. Nothing is too scary or heavy, making it a perfect book for kids of all ages and stages. I screen books for my kids and am happy to hand this off to my 13 year old, as well as add this to our bookshelf and enjoy for many years to come. Filled with imagination!
January 25, 2021
It is cute and had an unique concept that I wish had been executed better. The writing was not my favorite. Hopefully, in the final print they put the dragon's voice in italics or something to help clarify when the dragon is speaking vs. original thought from the character. Also, one of these girls works in a grocery store (family business maybe but still) and yet they still have recess at school? How old are they supposed to be?
July 16, 2021
This book is wonderful and hits the trifecta--exhilarating magic; coupled with real-life conundrums and challenges facing most children, but tweaked with gentle humor; and all rooted in a fully realized Maine setting, which reveals its own energy and dynamism. I bought it for my eleven-year-old niece, because she loves Booraem's previous books, and my niece hit the couch with it and got up hours later, blissfully satisfied. I also read it and could see why. Great pick for the midgrade crowd.
May 29, 2021
This was straight-up delightful middle grade; definitely earned its starred reviews. The voice is wonderfully funny, and on practically every page I was thinking "This is absolutely going on my read-aloud list." And such fun, magical elements of river dragons, neighbors transformed into chickens, cursed gold, and more! Also I really liked Hillyard the awkward neighbor kid with his rad shoes.
July 4, 2021
I love this book, and I wish I could have read it as a child because I'm sure it would have stuck with me.
September 19, 2021
3.5 stars
December 18, 2025
Adam (age 9): 4.65 stars. I liked the overall story but I did not like that it took such a long time to get exciting. I liked the chickens. Kaboink.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews