Author: Don Calame
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Quinn’s illusions are as good as those in any Vegas act—but can he win a spot at a prestigious magic camp despite an upstaging partner, a cute rival and a con-artist mentor?
Fifteen-year-old Quinn Purcell wants only one thing: to win a coveted spot at the Masters of Magic Fantasy Camp. But the competition is stiff, including Dani Darling, an incredibly talented, and incredibly attractive, rival magician who prestidigitates her way into Quinn’s heart—unless that’s just another of her tricks. To make matters worse, Quinn and his best friend, Perry, have always performed their magic as a team, but the judges want solo acts, and a two-man audition might disqualify them. When Quinn meets his idol, the Dazzling Lazlo, at a diner, it seems like a sign. If he can convince Lazlo to spill the secrets to his greatest trick, then the spot at the camp is all but Quinn’s. But is the washed-up magician just using Quinn to run a few scams? When the chips are down, what will Quinn risk—his best friend, his new crush, or his career as a magician? Hilarious and fast-paced, Don Calame’s latest novel is full of complicated magic tricks and equally complicated friendships.
I love the humorous lines in this book, and the main characters: three budding magicians vying against one another to win an audition. (You learn tons about magic tricks.)
The protagonist is Quinn, who has always performed magic shows alongside his best friend Perry. Now it appears the upcoming audition is going to require them to perform separately. Is that good or bad, because not so secretly, Quinn is insanely jealous of his friend, given that Perry is handsome, kind, debonair, etc. And has his pick of girls.
Although Perry points out that Quinn is the brains behind their operation, Quinn is simply too insecure and self-denigrating to hear it.
As the water runs, I stare at my reflection in the mirror. The best you can say about my face is that it’s inconspicuous. Like clip art. The kind of mug you might use in an advertisement for nine-dollar haircuts.
He’s always there. For me. For you. For everyone. It kind of makes you want to puke, his unconditional availability. No wonder everybody loves him. Including me.
Quinn’s whiny thoughts about being a “pathetic sidekick” would get annoying, except that the writing is too punchy and fun to allow that.
Enter Dani, a new girl at school and talented magician going up against them in the audition. Suddenly, it’s all about who can beat whom by what underhanded, manipulative manner. And that’s complicated by Quinn’s instant crush on his arch competitor, and taking on a dubious mentor, a magician-turned-con-artist.
All through the well-paced novel, the reader waits to see who will win the competition. Of course, there’s a twist that determine who does, but it’s one that feels kind of cheap and contrived.
Too bad, because there are only four places the novel offers up weaknesses: the climax just mentioned, a scene where Quinn fantasizes about Perry’s ex-girlfriend liking him (doesn’t feel realistic), and a love-triangle duel that fizzles when Quinn declares his jealousy, back-stabbing behavior and admiration to Perry – in front of the entire school. (Unlikely or over the top – take your pick.)
“Sometimes….it’s like I’ve told you…I just feel…low-rent. Standing beside you. Like I’m a ball of cat-clawed yarn and you’re this…gorgeous cashmere sweater that everyone wants to cuddle with.”
Oh, and Quinn’s parents are so outrageously odd that they feel like a parody accidentally spilled into an otherwise fine novel.
It’s a novel with writing teens will love:
I drop my head, feeling like a seasick passenger on the Titanic. I stare at the concrete. The weeds poking through the cracks. The shoe-smeared beetle who never saw it coming. The empty Twinkies wrapper tumbling with the wind.
A novel we recommend for teen boys. (Beware, middle-grades: There are lots of four-letter words.)
- Pam Withers