HITHER & NIGH

Magic isn’t just for the good students.

Three years after seventh grader Nell’s brother, River, disappeared from Washington Square Park in Manhattan, her class-cutting and gambling on chess games in the park land her in the Last Chance Club at school. It’s a group designed for students who are close to being expelled and is populated by a motley crew. There’s good-looking bully Annika, a former neighbor and friend of River’s, who moved after her mother married a wealthy man. They’re joined by Crud, a mountain of a kid rumored to be guilty of heinous acts, and Tom—or as Nell thinks of him, The Viking—a cute boy with fingers sticky from theft and his constant supply of Twizzlers. The mismatched foursome wouldn’t normally associate, but when Mr. Boot, the club’s leader, informs them that they will be learning magic as a way to become literal angels, they’re forced to get along and work together. But the more they learn, the more Nell questions Mr. Boot’s motives, especially as hints arise that River’s disappearance may be linked to the magical world. The book tries to do a lot and largely succeeds. Readers hoping to become enmeshed in conspiracies with links to folklore, mythology, and literature will be in heaven and will readily forgive a few plot holes. Main characters read White.

A thrilling page-turner.