So You Want To Be a Wizard
by Diane Duane
Thirteen-year-old Nita Callahan finally finds a way to get back at the notorious school bullies, Joanne and her gang, when she discovers a library book on the art of wizardry. She hardly dares to believe the book's claim that she too can become a wizard if she's willing to take the Wizard's Oath and undergo the danger of a wizard's initiation, the Ordeal. But to Nita's amazement and delight, her new Wizard's Manual is telling her the truth. While practicing her first spells, Nita meets Kit Rodriguez, another young wizard, and starts working with him to find a solution to her bullying problem...
What they get, though, doesn't look much like a solution. Kit and Nita suddenly find themselves dealing with a "white hole" named Fred, who's arrived on Earth with an urgent message regarding the mystical Book of Night with Moon. The Book is missing...and has to be found quickly if dire things aren't going to start happening to the Earth.
It's not long before the search for the bright Book leads Nita and Kit to a deadly alternate Manhattan, where they encounter man-eating helicopters, vicious packs of killer cabs, and the terrible wolflike perytons, which attack them at every turn. Despite the danger, Kit and Nita are determined to rescue the Book of Night with Moon from the lair of the dragon who presently possesses it. But can they keep the Book out of the clutches of the Lone Power, the ancient darkness cast out long ago from the heart of the worlds?... (Goodreads summary)
This book is a wonderful middle grade exploration of learning magic in a self-paced environment (instead of a "magic school"). There are some great science fiction elements that blend in to make a large, mysterious universe, including animals and space phenomena that are sapient and also are wizards. Some similarities to A Wrinkle in Time in how science fiction and magic mix together to make a vibrant, mind-bending story.
How These Live Book Clubs Work
Participation in the live book club includes access to a set of resources and activities as well as interactive components.
Participants receive
- A suggested reading schedule
- PDF reading guides with comprehension questions
- Vocabulary/reading activities
- Discussion board posts in our online classroom
- Writing/multimodal project prompts related to the reading
- An invitation to a live discussion
- A recording of the summary of the live discussion
- An optional feedback add-on for the final paper/project
- Rubrics for at-home feedback
Families are welcome to use as much or as little of the suggested resources and activities as they'd like to fit their interest and schedules.
Ages:
10 - 13
Dates:
February 1 - 29, 2024
Live Meeting:
There are two options for attending a live meeting for this club. An afternoon/evening option is offered to accommodate people with different schedules. Please only attend one of these meetings.
A video summary presentation will be made available for those unable to attend the live meeting. To protect participant privacy, recordings of the meetings will not be distributed to anyone who did not attend the meeting.
Note: meetings with fewer than 3 attendees may run a bit shorter depending on how participation goes.
Option 1:
February 29, 2024 (Thursday)
7:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM Central / 5:00 PM Mountain / 4:00 PM Pacific Time
Option 2:
March 1, 2024 (Friday)
1:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 PM Central / 11:00 AM Mountain / 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Supplies:
A copy of the book So You Want To Be A Wizard, New Millennium Edition.
NOTE: It is important to get the New Millennium Edition of this book if possible, as the author revised all books in this series to fix the timeline (which got complicated) and to establish the setting to start post-2000.
The author sells the ebook directly on her website, along with bundles for the full series.
Borrowed, used, and audio formats will work.
- Zoom account for live session
- Microphone and camera for live session (optional)
- PDF reader
- Access to printer if you want to print worksheets
Content Note:
Tweens who feel ostracized and are bullied in school. Scary and strange situations involving magic, time travel, and interdimensional travel, like cars that act like large predators (with teeth). Large existential threat.
Positive representation: Latina protagonist, self-study of magic (not in a "magic school" that arbitrarily sorts people), non-humanoid entities who are also wizards (including a white hole).
This book is generally appropriate for tween readers.
