A Taste of Magic - J. Elle

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Twelve-year-old Kyana has just found out the family secret--she's the first witch in her family for generations! Which means mandatory lessons every Saturday at Park Row Magic Academy--a learning center hidden in the back of the local beauty shop. Kyana can't wait to learn some spells to help out at home. The only downside is having to keep her magic a secret from her connected-at-the-hip BFF Nae.

But then the magic school loses their funding, forcing the students to pay a hefty tuition at the school across town or have their magic stripped. Determined not to let that happen, Kyana enters a baking competition with a huge cash prize. After all, she's learned how to make the best desserts from her Memaw. But will Kyana be able to keep up her grades in both magic school and real school while preparing for the competition and without revealing her magic? And what happens when a little taste of magic works its way into her cupcakes in the first round of competition?"

🧁🧁🧁

 Oh, this was such a delightful read. Kyana is enthusiastic, creative, and passionate, both Nae and Ashley are so earnest and sweet, and Memaw is wonderful. Some highlights for me were the nuanced take on the boy that Kyana doesn't get along with (I goofed and already added the book to my school library's collection, so I don't have it with me to reference), the first round of the baking competition, and the public library being featured as a place Kyana regularly goes (what can I say, library shout-outs will always get a thumbs up from me). 

The one not-positive I have to say is that I don't think including Kyana's struggle with her math grade was necessary - it came up pretty early, but after that there was so much other drama going on that it almost seemed to be inserted as an afterthought. Like "oh shoot, I forgot I brought up that her math grade was low, better say something about that" instead of an actual part of the plot. That aside, I thought the story was great. The way J. Elle wove magic into the real world was delightful, and I loved the way Kyana dove into finding a solution to their school losing its funding. Her determination and refusal to quit really tugged at my heart, and seeing her pull multiple communities together to try and make magic happen was amazing.

Very solid read! I highly recommend it, and I hope my students enjoy it as much as I did.