Genre: Fantasy
Protagonists: Male, White
Reading Level: 500s
Series: 3 titles, last published in 2022
Originally reviewed in 2020
Review: Auggie lives alone on an island, where he cares for magical beasts in the Fabled Stables. As the story opens, he's lonely with no one to be his friend or play with him. He tries to make friends with Fen, a magical Stick-in-the-Mud, who can turn into any tool that Auggie needs, but Fen is too grumpy. He tries to make friends with Miss Bundt, a purple-skinned woman with tattoos who is the closest thing to a mother he has, but she's busy working on projects for Professor Cake, the man who collects all the magical things on the island.
Auggie's loneliness is interrupted when the stable explodes with another space for a creature called a wisp - and this creature is in trouble! Auggie bravely goes through a magic portal to rescue the wisp from nasty hunters and, after some exciting and dangerous adventures, finds he has a real friend at last.
The chapter book is illustrated with colorful art, both full page spreads and spot art, in a style similar to Princess in Black, although it's a little more text-heavy and is at a more challenging reading level. The art shows Auggie as a brown-haired, tanned boy in old-fashioned pants, suspenders, and leather shoes. The villains wear medieval-style clothing and Miss Bundt a floor-length, plain white dress with short sleeves and an apron.
Although there are several things left unexplained in the story - why didn't Auggie make friends with the other magical creatures? What's different about Wisp that she can be a friend when the others can't? Why do the magical creatures even have genders? Wisp is literally a wisp of moonlight. Fen is a magical stick, but gets a male pronoun. Wisp is at first damaged and in pain from the iron collar she is forced to wear, but then seems fine with it? Most of these minor issues won't matter to young readers though. They'll enjoy the magical creatures and adventures and be eager to find out what happens to Wisp and Auggie next.
Verdict: Hand to fans of Beasts of Olympus and Princess in Black and other beginning chapter readers who like fantasy stories and will enjoy the plentiful art.
Revisited: It's not clear whether this is complete as a trilogy or if there will be more titles. It's not a top circulating title, but if you need more short fantasy chapters it's a great choice to add.
ISBN: 9781419742699; Published October 2020 by Abrams; Borrowed from another library in my consortium
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