The Great Escape

Evie “believed in all things magic,” and sporting a pointed hat and a cape, she’s the very picture of an adroit conjurer. But when it comes to “the wild tornado” that is her three animal-pajama-clad younger siblings, “Evie had no power,” writes Marcero (In a Jar). Fleeing to the snowy outdoors with all three at her heels, she in desperation tries a magic spell of escape, and it seems to work. As her body shoots below the drifted snow, a moment shown in a cutaway view, the book’s orientation flips, and Evie finds herself in an aquatic realm rendered in luminous pink, orange, and blue hues. Even there, her siblings prove impossible to shake, but a whale’s sudden appearance awakens Evie’s protective instincts, and when it turns out the gentle giant only seeks help freeing its calf from a starry net in an adjacent and equally shimmering celestial world, the siblings become a crack team. “With the speed of a tornado,” they break the mesh and earn a grateful whale’s escort home. There, the book’s position turns once again, and Evie discovers two things: her ever-adoring siblings have made her hot chocolate, and the best magic isn’t about making problems disappear but rather finding new ways to orient to them. The children are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 3–7. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (Feb.)