BlogTourReview: A Head Full of Magic by Sarah Morrell

Ten-year-old Fleur Marie Bottom is dealing with a lot of problematic issues as she approaches the final weeks of primary school. Her Dad mysteriously left home following the death of Grandpa Willie and hasn’t been heard from since; Nan has moved into the attic accompanied by her African Grey parrot, Sir Barclay; and mum is intent on trying out West Indian recipes to make Nan feel at home – with disastrous effects! The arrival of a new girl named Celeste in her class has only compounded Fleur’s problems. Her long-standing best friends, Anais and Ruby, have declared that they now find chess and books and hanging out in the library “boring” and have gravitated into Celeste’s sphere of after-school pizza and play dates. She has inexplicably been attacked by a swarm of birds in the local park and her ankles are the constant targets of Celeste’s underhand tactics on the hockey pitch.

As her emotions ricochet between despair, sadness and worry, Fleur discovers that she has been “blessed with a head full of magic”, as her powers are awoken by the changes taking place in her life. Navigating the bullying at school and concern for the increasing frailty of Nan becomes a lot more complicated when fledgling magical talents as a “Hexter” become part of the mix. Fortunately, when she finally plucks up the courage to talk honestly to Nan, guidance is forthcoming. Deploying her “animalator” talent for talking to animals, to outsmart Celeste during the hockey tournament gives rise to scenes which resemble a humorous hybrid of Dr Dolittle and Malory Towers!

This debut Middle Grade novel from Sarah Morrell is a fun and satisfying story of a caring multi-generational and multi-cultural family bound together with love and secrets. The underlying message of embracing difference, being proud of who you are and realising that sharing worries is the strong and brave course of action emerges gently from the narrative. I think that this story will be very popular amongst children in years 5 and 6 who will find parallels with the characters and predicaments, and might yearn for their own Sir Barclay-style ally!

I am most grateful to Helen Lewis at Literally PR and Hashtag Press for sending me a copy of A Head Full of Magic to review and for inviting me aboard the blog tour.