Abby Carnelia's One & Only Magical Power (review)

The preparation of a chef salad is not normally considered a spectacular magical occurrence, but it is just such a mundane event that leads eleven-year-old Abby Carnelia to discover her singular supernatural ability: with just a simple tug on her earlobes, Abby can make hard-boiled eggs spin on their own. Sure, it's not the most amazing feat ever, but it certainly makes average Abby feel a bit more special and spurs her interest in magic much so that her parents decide to send her to a summer camp for budding magicians. Unfortunately, the camp isn't at all what it seems to be, and when Abby reveals the supernatural power behind her simple egg trick, she finds herself and several of her similarly gifted campmates pawns in a pharmaceutical company's quest for genetic dominance. This generally playful and cheery tale comes with an understated feel-good message: we all have gifts, and no matter how humdrum they may seem to us, they make each and every one of us special. A sweet notion, to be sure, but not necessarily a strong enough premise to carry two-hundred-plus pages and maintain the interest of a target audience used to theatrical wizarding battles and mythic extravaganzas. Even readers looking for a quieter story about magic may find themselves thrown off by the evil machinations of the villainous drug company and the book's abrupt and somewhat illogical conclusion. Nonetheless, Abby is an admirably pragmatic lead, and her peculiarly gifted friends make for plenty of laughs in an overall wholesome tale about the value of oddness.