SOLVED. YA Fantasy about a wizard/ mage going to a camp for wizards/ mages. Published before 2008. [s]

[Elowen]

I read this book's first five chapters when I was a child in the doctor's office waiting area, so I'm afraid the only year I have for it is that it was written before the year of 2008, which doesn't really narrow it down.

Details I remember from the first five chapters;

The protagonist was a boy that got an offer to go to an all expenses paid summer camp. The camp was to train wizards/mages, I don't remember what they called them. Instead of wands they used crystals. Werebears were a thing and were not treated super differently. The children were divided between camp cabins.

I do not know if this book was written before Harry Potter or was written as a result of it, but I do know that it was more interesting for me to read than the Harry Potter series. No, it was not the Percy Jackson series.

The cover was...I don't really remember? I think it was drawn like the old scifi book covers, paperback. It was in English. The dialect didn't strike kid-me as odd, so it must have been US English instead of UK English.

It didn't seem super old, just well-used. Given that it was in a waiting room, that is to be expected. It wasn't particularly long, short enough to keep the interest of the same age group that The Sorcerer's Stone was. So child y/a. I don't know if there was a continuation or if the author only wrote one book for this setting/characters.

[Becca]

The Magickers by Emily Drake?

[Elowen]

Becca wrote: "The Magickers by Emily Drake?"

Yes! That's it!

I've been looking for this book since 2008, thank you! None of my google searches turned it up, I must have been entering the wrong keywords this entire time!

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Elowen.

The Magickers (book 1) of The Magickers series by Emily Drake - Becca's find.