cover image Abby Carnelia's One and Only Magical Power

Abby Carnelia's One and Only Magical Power

David Pogue, . . Roaring Brook, $15.99 (277pp) ISBN 978-1-59643-384-7

New York Times columnist Pogue debuts with the charming story of 11-year-old Abby, who discovers that she is a part of “a rare, very special breed of children who can bend the laws of nature—in tiny, pointless ways.” Her ability? Making a hardboiled egg spin when she tugs on her earlobes. Eager to make sense of this “power,” she attends a summer camp for magicians, and is soon sent on to a “Super Camp” for kids with similar supernatural abilities. It quickly becomes apparent that the camp is a front for a darker operation, and Abby and other gifted campers (one can fog up a window by counting by twos in Spanish in a weird voice; another can levitate, slightly, by imagining buffalos walking backwards in diapers) find purpose in their seemingly pointless powers. One gets the sense that Pogue family in-jokes may be a source for some of the dialogue, and the author even inserts himself into the story. But this in no way diminishes the kid-pleasing nature of Pogue's brand of humor or the message that all gifts, no matter how absurd they seem, have value. Ages 8–12. (May)