Claribel A. Ortega

A magical adventure for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers and Nevermoor, about three witchlings who must work together to do the impossible if they have any hope of earning their full powers. Every year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings who participate in the Black Moon Ceremony are placed into covens and come into their powers as full-fledged witches. And twelve-year-old Seven Salazar can't wait to be placed in the most powerful coven with her best friend! But on the night of the ceremony, in front of the entire town, Seven isn't placed in one of the five covens. She's a Spare! Spare covens have fewer witches, are less powerful, and are looked down on by everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic circle to seal their coven and cement themselves as sisters, it doesn't work! They're stuck as Witchlings--and will never be able to perform powerful magic. Seven invokes her only option: the impossible task. The three Spares will be assigned an impossible task: If they work together and succeed at it, their coven will be sealed and they'll gain their full powers. If they fail... Well, the last coven to make the attempt ended up being turned into toads. Forever. But maybe friendship can be the most powerful magic of all... With action-packed adventure, a coven of quirky witchlings, Claribel A. Ortega's signature humor and girl-power vibes, this middle grade Latinx witch story is truly a modern classic.

Witchlings

Lucia de doulingo the 5th

 "Hard work doesn't guarantee success, only no regrets,"

Sarah Sammis

** spoiler alert **
           The task the girls are given reveals problems with their town and the twelve villages as a whole. The closer they get to their goal the more they realize that a lot of what they've been told is false.

The novel covers some heavy but important topics: child abuse, worker's rights, prejudice, food insecurity, and political corruption.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2022/comm...

For a YA, this was really fun while also dealing with some heavy subject matter. The world and characters were colorful and creative, and there was seamless  lgbtq+ inclusion. The twist was good, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. If you like Mooncakes and The Owl House, give this book a go. 

Floofyflower

Carrington Kinslow

DNF at 46%, 1.5 stars.

I wanted to love this, it sounded so fun and really cute. But what it ended up being is just a big mess. 

I could hardly visualize any of these scenes. There is a severe lack of detail and a whole lot of telling and not showing. It seemed like many of the rules of the world and magic system were just pulled out of thin air and revealed when the author felt like it served the plot. Nothing was established, I really don't think anything about this book was planned. It felt very clumsy and messy.

Some of this writing really gave me second-hand embarrassment. The main character says every other page that she doesn't care what people think of her being a spare witch and that she'll prove everyone wrong, and then she's also blowing her BFF's phone up who has been ghosting her ever since they got sorted into different covens. She literally shuns her in public. Like come on, get a grip and move on. Also, these 12 year olds calling things "dope" made me roll my eyes. And the frequent use of "heck" or "heckin" was nauseating. If you can't use the word "Hell," please just avoid phrases where it's required. I decided I needed to DNF this book when I read "Heck had frozen over." 

Obviously this book isn't realistic because it's fantasy, but the dialogue between these characters really stuck out to me. The three girls constantly use slang, but are also somehow extremely grammatically correct and proper? Can we please get some contractions in here?! The dialogue consistently felt out of place, very forced and unnatural.

This book is advertised as being some grand message about inclusion and friendship. You will find none of that here. The MC, Seven, is so adamant about not being judged by the town residents for being a spare witch, but she's the most judgmental character in the whole book. 

Only reason this didn't get a full 1 star is because I liked the side characters, Valley and Thorn. They were cute and actually likable. 

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

keith

how can a book with a toad in a mushroom shaped traveling tank named edgar allan toad not be incredible?

Kerri McDonald

This was such a cute and wonderful story story! I loved the witchy vibes and the fast-paced story. The best part of this, however, was our three main witches, Seven, Thorn, and Valley. I adored them and their friendship so much! This was an action packed and heartwarming tale that I know I’ll want to reread over and over again. 

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Witchlings

Author: Claribel A. Ortega

Book Series: Standalone for now

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Latine MC and characters, queer characters, one f/f romance mentioned

Recommended For...: middle grade readers, fantasy, magic, witches, Latine/Latinx characters and inspired

Publication Date: April 5, 2022

Genre: MG Fantasy

Age Relevance: 10+ (bullying, violence, death, starvation, child abuse, assault, gore, scary monsters)

Explanation of Above: There is some bullying and very slight violence shown. There is also some very slight gore shown. Death is mentioned, never shown. There is starvation mentioned, as well as child abuse mentioned here and there (in very vague context) and an assault via magic shown (very brief, not graphic). There are also scary monsters that might be frightening to younger or sensitive readers.

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Pages: 352

Synopsis: Every year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings who participate in the Black Moon Ceremony are placed into covens and come into their powers as full-fledged witches.

And twelve-year-old Seven Salazar can't wait to be placed in the most powerful coven with her best friend! But on the night of the ceremony, in front of the entire town, Seven isn't placed in one of the five covens. She's a Spare!

Spare covens have fewer witches, are less powerful, and are looked down on by everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic circle to seal their coven and cement themselves as sisters, it doesn't work! They're stuck as Witchlings—and will never be able to perform powerful magic.

Seven invokes her only option: the impossible task. The three Spares will be assigned an impossible task: If they work together and succeed at it, their coven will be sealed and they'll gain their full powers. If they fail... Well, the last coven to make the attempt ended up being turned into toads. Forever.

But maybe friendship can be the most powerful magic of all…

Review: For the most part I really REALLY loved this book. It was so sweet and magical and definitely has that School of Good and Evil / Amari feel to it! I loved the magic system and how well detailed it was. I loved seeing how the world interacted with the characters and I loved seeing the character development as well, not only with our main character but with the side characters as well. The book has an amazing premise and it will keep you hooked from beginning to end. The book is also so magical and I would LOVE to see more from this world. Also, this is a total girl-power book.

The only issue I had with the book is that it is a bit fast paced, which had me a little confused here and there, but it would be perfect for younger fast readers who are craving new magical journies.

Verdict: I highly recommend this one!


Witchlings

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