Snag Your Copy A Summer Spell (Magic Kitten, #1) Illustrated By Angela Swan Formatted As Paperback

think this DRAwill hold the interest of younger readers, I found it enjoyable, though a strange mishmash, or should I say rehash, of other favorites, Think Lion King meets Mary Poppins in a pastoral English setting complete wirh gypsies and a Hardy Boys type mystery to solve, Throw in lots of supercute, cuddly kittenness and you've got our story, Surprisingly good. Simplistic, as expected of a child's novel, but a fun and quick story, I felt like the book was more centered around Lisa than on Flame, The way the prologue went I thought it would be Flame that the story centered on with Lisa being his companion and sidekick, But it really felt like Flame was there just to get Lisa out of trouble or make things easier for her, Would have been more entertaining if the story had focused more on Flame and his backstory and troubles, Myyear old daughter and me read this together and she so fell in love! This is her new favorite book and she can't wait to read the next one! It's magical, funny, and sincere all at the same time! My sister she isbut at the time wasread it and thought that it was the best thing in the world and my parents and I had been trying to get her to read for months.
I thought, "If this made her want to read then I had better read it so be can get more books that she will read, For a while she only read fantasy because that was the only genre that she liked, Now she is reading nonfiction as well but only about kittens, This is another book in my quest to explore different juvenile series, This series is extremely popular and I can definitely see why, This book presents that there is such a thing as a magic kitten who's really part of a grandiose royal conspiracy plot, Add to it the fact that the kitten saves the girl from a boring summer in the country and you get instant excitement, I had a difficult time liking the girlI found her rude and manipulative in a way where her age could not excuse such behavior, Regardless, I understand the draw for early readers, The book does have a good deal of suspense and adventure, and I wasn't always sure what kind of magic the kitten would do next, I'm intrigued by the grand plot though and how that will work throughout the series, I'm not sure if I will read all the books, but you never know,

For: early readers kitten fans readers looking for fantasy and adventure readers wanting wish fulfillment,

Possible red flags: talking back to adults poaching animals magic obvious prejudice toward a group of "travelers/gypsies" on part of the police, Five for childhood!
I used to be so picky with what I would read so I was a struggle for my mom to get me to pick a book to read for fun.
That was until I discovered the magic puppy and kitty series, I loved the covers and the stories were so fun! Not to mention, I loved the magic kitty series more since cats are my favorite animals,
I remember reading these books all day and how excited I was to write book reports on books I ACTUALLY enjoyed, Now, I have little cousins to pass this stuff down to and give them the joy and imagination I had, I totally recommend these books to every kid who loves kitties or puppies, they'll enjoy them, I still love them as a teenager! This is thest book club book I am reading with myyear old.
I wished there was more vocabulary words other than "poached", but at least there was, I really didn't want to read this book, but I couldn't say no to my child when she picked it out, I'm glad she did. I look forward to talking about it with her, Obviously I was much, much younger when I read these books, . .

If you've got a younger brother or sister, or a child, I'd highly recommend these books for children up to about age, The storylines were imaginative and fun, while the words weren't too difficult to process, Kids with love the adventures of this little kitten who's actually a lion prince hiding from his uncle, ova knjiga me jako iznenadila i toliko oduševila da sam joj dala, This author is an awesome author she writes both books for kids and adults, This book was a very cute book, Prince Flame is a white young lion he will one day be king in his homeland when he is stronger but for now he hides fron his Uncle Ebony because his uncle wants to kill him sohe himself willbe king.
So Flame disguises himself as a tiny kitten, In this book a girl named Lisa goes to stay with her Aunt Rose in the country, Lisa knows she is going to be so bored, Even more so when she finds out her aunt has no TV, no microwave, no dishwasher, But one day Lisa finfd Flame a little furry kitten, She and flame bond. she soon finds out Flame is no normal kitten, This was cute! A fast read for those still struggling with their reading skills, and a story that will be of interest to most girls, Who wouldn't want a magic kitten Parents may find it a bit tedious, but I can easily see girls reading the whole series, The ending sets the story up nicely to continue, yet is contained enough and resolves satisfactorily so that the book stands on its own as well, Fun! My only criticism of this book is that the cover doesn't accurately reflect the content, The cover, with its gianteyed kitty on a background of sparkly, looks like it's going to be a Rainbow Magiclike read fornd andrd graders looking for something gentle and sweet.
But the story is darker and the issues more complex than that, Flame, an orange kitten, is really a lion prince in disguise, on the run from an uncle who wants to kill him and usurp the throne,yearold Lisa, visiting her aunt in the English countryside, finds Flame in the barn and immediately bonds with the kitten, She is astonished to find that Flame can talk and perform magic such as making her invisible, doing the dishes in a twinkling, and healing a horse's leg,

This is a well told, interesting story, but here are some of the A Summer Spell's darker elements: the poaching and killing of deer including a scene where Lisa encounters deer carcasses guns and gunfire, an evil uncle tracking down his nephew in order to kill him, and prejudice against Romani gypsies.
I was pleased that Lisa showed growth in how she came to appreciate her aunt's kindness, and enjoyed the charming setting, the suspenseful story, and the warm relationship between Lisa and Flame.
it was a good book, It was pretty good. my favorite part was the little kitty that got scared, that Lisa got to the woods, If you didn't think The Lion King could get any weirder, you are wrong, Take talking animal kingdom and replace Simba with Simba,or Prince Flame, and you have yourself a magical lion on the run from his uncle, It basically is the classic tale you remember, but with a lot more serious topics,

. Racism against Romany gypsies. We learn halfway through the story that certain white men of privilege, in the village, are pointing fingers and blaming the Romany men for poaching deer, Did no one think a sketchy and unfamiliar van, with a driver that drives like he wants to kill all pedestrians, was suspicious

, Kids driving ponies on the wrong side of the road, He almost caused his pony to be seriously injured and our MC could have DIED, Thank kittens that Prince Flame was with him,

. Guns and violence. These poachers are some kind of serious about poaching if they are willing to off some kids along the way,

. Infanticide and dethroning. It's not very clear how old Prince Flame really is, but it is clear Uncle Ebony racist! wants to kill him and take over his throne, and Flame isn't strong enough to take him on.
Every family has its problems, I guess,

After outlining these serious issues in the first book of what promises to be a longlived series, it is hard to imagine children appreciating the complexity of it all.


JUST SAYING. A book about a . MAGICAL KITTEN Are you serious
Yes, :D

Really cute story, It does suffer the annoying 'whiny city girl having to live in the country' cliche that I hate so much, but who cares, The story is adorable.

While the book is clearly geared towards girls, I can't see why boys wouldn't like it, as it has some intense moments and that the cute little kitten on the cover is actually a LION! No spoiler.


Rawr. My son adores kittens, so picked out a few of these books at the library, He loved this book. He can't wait to read the others from his author,
Lisa has been taken to the country to spend time with her aunt while he parents are away, She is unhappy and its certain that she will have a boring time, A she is in the barn she discovers a small orange kitten named Flame, Her summer is about to change, This review consists of two parts:, my review Mom's, and. my daughter's review of this book,

DAUGHTER SAYS: Once upon a time there was a kitten, . . "meow" except it wasn't really a kitten, it was a magic lion named Prince Flame, There was an evil lion named Ebony who was his uncle who wanted to kill him because he wanted to be the ruler of the kingdom, So, Flame goes into the human world to hide from his uncle and he meets a girl named Lisa, Lisa is spending the summer at her Aunt Rose's house while her parents are away, She thinks that it's going to be a horrible summer until she finds Flame, When she meets Flame, Flame thinks she's a monster and Lisa is scared because Flame talks, but then they figure out that they are both nice, Lisa and Flame meet John and they start hanging out together andthey solve mystery of the poachers, Flame has to go back to his own world at the end of the book,

What I liked and disliked about it: I really like the pictures of the kittens on the front cover of the book and I like the story.
I liked it when Lisa and Flame first meet because they have no idea what each other are and are scared of each other, I wish I had a magic kitten so that I could talk to it secretly and I could hide it in my desk at school so that it could tell me the answers to the math problems.
At first John was mean but he turned out to be nice, It was cool how John's Grandma knew that Flame was magic so Lisa could share her special secret with someone, It was a bad idea for Lisa to sneak out of her aunt's house at night to go take pictures of the poachers, She could have been caught and kidnapped or shot by the poachers, But maybe it was a little bit safer because she had a magic kitten to protect her, I didn't like that the kitten was really a lion because I wanted it to stay a cute little kitten,

My bottom line: I like the Magic Kitten stories a lot, I have read many other ones and they are just as good as this one, I like that there is a different colored kitten in each book and they are all super cute, I would recommend this book to my friends who are girls, Boys probably wouldn't like them because the main characters are always girls,

MOM SAYS:

Magic Kitten, A Summer Spell is the first book in the Magic Kitten series written by British author Sue Bentley, The Magic Kitten series are distinguisable by their book covers featuring a different and completely adorable kitten on each, all with emerald green eyes, The premise of the series is that Prince Flame, a young white lion and rightful heir to the Lion Throne in another world, is on the run from his evil Uncle Ebony who killed his parents and claimed the throne for himself.
Ebony is chasing Flame trying to kill him in order to stay on as the ruler of the kingdom, Flame cannot match the strength of his uncle, therefore he escapes into the human world disguised as an adorable kitten, In each of the books, Flame meets a different young girl who is in the midst of some crisis, For example, in the first book, A Summer Spell, Flame meets Lisa who unwillingly has to spend the summer with her aunt when her parents go to America without her.
In each of the books, the kitten and the girl help each other through their troubles and in the end, they part ways with the understanding that their connection was only meant to be at that moment in time.


What I liked and disliked about it: Both my kids love the Magic Kitten books to the extent that when we got two kittens, my son decided to name him Flame even though he's completely black.
Not surprisingly, when people come to our house, meet our cat, and ask his name, we usually get a puzzled look when we say "Flame", Apparently most people expect that the name Flame is most appropriate for an orange cat, But, really Flame was named after the adorable kitten in the Magic Kitten series, Oh, and by the way, in one of the books, he is a black cat!

I agree with my daughter that the book covers are absolutely adorable.
I'm a real sucker for a cute kitten, Sue Bentley provides the key ingredients to a story that is a sure winner with the demographic it intends to target, namely middle grade girls, You can't go wrong combining a young girl suffering from a sense of injustice caused by her parents, a cute kitten who talks and performs magic, and a mystery in which our young girl rises to become a hero.
All the Magic Kitten books follow this formula: it works! In fact, I would say that one thing Bentley does really well is to create intrigue chapters usually end with relatively dramatic cliffhangers.


I didn't much care for Lisa, the young girl in this particular book, When we first meet Lisa, she is shockingly rude to her aunt, Upon their first meeting Lisa tells her aunt the following:

I didn't want to come here, Mum forced me to stay with you,

Her aunt Rose is unbelievably kind and patient:

Well I'd better make sure you enjoy yourself then, Long Brackby may not compare with America but it has a lot to offer,

Aunt Rose totally rocks in this book she is just a really cool aunt! She completely understands that her niece is upset with the situation her parents going off to America without her and reacts to her with such compassion that I am left quite impressed.
I'm not sure that Lisa ever completely redeems herself in the story, She still disobeys her aunt throughout the story putting herself in grave danger,

Which brings me to two issues I have with this book:

, I have a problem with, what I feel, is a loose plot, We see Lisa beginning to treat her aunt with more respect and to start acting more responsibly once Flame enters her life, I was a bit surprised when Lisa decided to disobey her aunt and sneak off after dark to explore the mystery of the poachers in the surrounding woods, I felt like this was not a logical place for the plot to go given Lisa's changes in attitude THAT VERY DAY and given the promises she made her very generous aunt.
It seemed that the plot took on an illogical direction out of convenience so that the rest of the story could make sense,

. Call me crazy well, not to my face, but whatyear old girl would go in the woods after dark with the idea to take photographs of poachers i.
e. , MEN WITH GUNS I'm a little alarmed that this was treated as not such a big deal, After all, Flame the magic kitten and the equally irresponsible neighbor boy John were there to protect her, Right. Couldn't the mystery have been who is stealing the Angorra rabbits her aunt is breeding Or who is putting sugar in everybody's gas tanks Or anything not involving firearms It felt a little heavy for a Magic Kitten book.
The rest

of the books as far as I can remember don't involve the same level of danger I think, Then again, every Magic Kitten book starts with a Prologue detailing how Uncle Ebony wants to kill his nephew Flame, . . hmmmm

My bottom line: Well, I can't NOT recommend a book based on a kitten after which my kids named their kitten, can I The kids really enjoyed this book as well as the other books in the Magic Kitten series.
All the books include a young girl as the main character, but my son enjoys the books regardless, This is a very easy read I read the book in less thanminutes therefore it is not much of a challenge foryears old, Nonetheless, the stories are intriguing and they are quite heartwarming, I can fully appreciate and understand the appeal of having a secret loyal and magical friend especially in the form of a cutie pie little kitten at a time when you are experiencing turmoil in your life.
It is quite simply magical!

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