couldn't get into the fantasy world Fagan created perhaps another time ( )

Disclaimer: I know the author of this charming book. But I'm also working hard to be objective. Just so you know.

Prunella Bogthistle is an inept bog-witch who can't even charm a wart onto her face. She does, however, catch a young thief in her grandmother's garden. Mischances and problems ensue, and the two of them end up having a host of scary adventures and meeting up with some unlikely heroes and villains. It's a whooshing ride of a book, with plot twists in plenty.

I love Prunella. When the book started, I thought she was going to be another ordinary misfit middle-school heroine, but she is so much more than that. She's prickly and confused and annoying and real. She's also maybe, just maybe, a little more magical than she thinks.

Fagan's got a deft hand with language. She delighted me early on with this:
"I'd beheld snappy city boys scrumming and playing like a pack of young hounds."
And this, much later, about a carnivorous flower:
"Those flowers are ravenous, and one of them had quite a lump in its trumpet."

Playful and fun. I enjoyed this heartily. ( )

The personal quests of a young witch who aspires to be a villain and a young thief who is determined to become a hero intersect in a swampy bog.

Reviewed by Joan Stradling for TeensReadToo.com

Prunella wants to be a proper bog-witch, but her curses end up helping instead of harming.

Her inability to curse allows a thief, Barnaby, to escape from her grandmother's garden and gets Prunella banished until she can do a proper curse.

Barnaby is on a quest to gain fame and fortune by finding the Mirable Chalice and returning it to the queen. Now, Prunella must team up with the very thief who got her kicked out of her bog if she hopes to prove herself and return to her family, but helping Barnaby find the chalice might prove more dangerous than she thought.

A tale worthy of sharing! With Fagan's combination of a bog-witch and a thief as unlikely heroes, THE MAGICAL MISADVENTURES OF PRUNELLA BOGTHISTLE is a brilliant tale of discovery and acceptance sure to entertain readers for years to come. ( )