May Magic
A Calendar Mystery by Ron Roy
Review: Bradley and Brian Pinto try to use a visit to a magic show featuring Hypo the Hypnotist as a sneaky way of getting a duck for a pet, only to discover their plan has gone awry when their Mom, after attending the performance, seems to turn into a duck, in May Magic, the fifth early chapter mystery for young readers in this series by Ron Roy.
Brian wants to start a business raising ducks for their feathers and down, but his Mother is firm in her refusal. "Running a business is hard work," she says. "Besides, I can't even get you to clean your side of the room." But with Mother's Day approaching, Brian comes up with a plan to get his way, buying tickets for his Mom to a local magic show and having Hypo hypnotize her into letting him have a duck. But the best laid plans of mice and men (or, in this case, ducks and boys) don't always turn out as expected, especially when the Bradley and Brian's Mom starts to exhibit strange duck-like behavior!
May Magic is an entertaining book featuring the younger siblings of the children introduced in the author's other series, "The A-to-Z Mysteries." The story has several funny scenes and will no doubt elicit some laughs along the way, though some readers may be slightly disappointed at the lack of a "mystery" here. The plot is more along the lines of a case of unintended consequences or be careful what you wish for, to be sure, a good lesson to learn, but not really one that requires any reasoning or investigation on the part of the boys and their friends.
May Magic is labeled by the publisher as RL 2.0 (2nd grade reading level). No Lexile measure has been determined for the book.
A complete list of titles in this series can be found at First Clues: Calendar Mysteries.
Acknowledgment: Random House provided a copy of May Magic for this review.
Review Copyright © 2011 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Selected reviews of other mysteries by this author …
June Jam
Random House (Paperback), March 2011
ISBN-13: 9780375861123; ISBN-10: 0375861122
Trapped on the D.C. Train!
Random House (Paperback), May 2011
ISBN-13: 9780375859267; ISBN-10: 0375859268
Location(s) referenced in May Magic: Connecticut
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May Magic by Ron Roy
Publisher: Random House
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0-375-86111-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-86111-6
Publication Date: March 2011
List Price: $4.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): Twins Bradley and Brian Pinto are getting ready to celebrate Mother's Day by treating their mom to a show by Hypo, the world's greatest hypnotist. Brian hopes that if Hypo can hypnotize his mom into loving ducks, then she will let him raise ducks in their backyard. But when the Pinto family gets home from the show, the twins' mom starts acting strange. She splashes in the bathtub for hours, she leaves corn kernels all over, and—could it be?—she quacks! Bradley thinks his mom has actually turned into a duck! How did this happen? Can Bradley and Brian, with help from their friends Lucy and Nate, turn their mom back into their mom?