THE WIZARD IN THE WOOD

Josh, Kit, and Alita find themselves in the middle of yet another magical adventure.

The summer is coming to a close, but first there’s a dragon egg to plant under the new school library. It is well known that librarians are wizards and that in order to have a proper library, a dragon, with all its magic, must be housed underneath. But that is where everything goes wrong. On the first day of school, the three children rush to meet their new librarian, Ben, and to sneak a peek at the dragon egg to see if it’s ready to hatch...only to find it’s been stolen. With the help of Ben and Faith, a librarian friend from their previous outings, the children set out to find the egg, in the process uncovering a cabal of dark wizards bent on overturning the wizarding world. The worldbuilding feels plausible, and readers will easily picture the magical Book Wood, imagine a dragon living under their own libraries, and envision themselves casting spells and battling giant, evil rats. Young readers will be surprised at the twists and turns the story takes. Ortu’s charming and appealing illustrations are well laid out, helping to flesh out this diversely populated world. The story opens with a brief recap, making it completely accessible to those who have not read the earlier two entries.

A solid, fun read for fantasy lovers.