MARIGOLD STAR

An upbeat little girl embarks on a quest to discover her magical power.

Marigold Star quite literally has “a star above her head,” a “sure sign,” according to her parents, that she’s “marked for greatness.” While gregarious Marigold makes friends easily, she has problems. She hasn’t mastered flying or invisibility, she keeps misplacing her magic wand, a new baby sister has disrupted her home life, and her star is blinking. She seeks advice from Granny Cabbage, who urges Marigold to discover her magical power and warns her to never let her wand fall into human hands. After her wand vanishes during a failed spell, Marigold invokes another spell to make her invisible to all but one special friend who needs her the most. Instantly, Marigold finds herself in the Human World, invisible to all except Winnie, a nasty, friendless girl who has Marigold’s wand and refuses to return it—which threatens to trap Marigold in the Human World. Nevertheless, Marigold befriends Winnie as well as other friendless kids and creatures she encounters as she tries to regain her wand. Somehow Primavera succeeds in writing a preternaturally good protagonist who is nevertheless likable, and although she flirts with the twee throughout, she never succumbs to it. Black-and-white illustrations capture Marigold’s whimsical friends, both magical and human; she and Winnie present white, but illustrations suggest some secondary characters of color.

A humorous, affirming middle-grade fantasy extolling friendships (especially imaginary ones).