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Summary
Summary
From the author of My Secret Guide to Paris and the Charmed Life series comes a new middle-grade novel about sisters, secrets, and everyday magic -- all set in the enchanting streets of London!When Phoebe finds a beautiful antique at a flea market, she's not sure whether it's as valuable as it looks. But inside she discovers something truly amazing a letter written during World War II, from a young girl to her sister who's been evacuated from London. The letter includes a "spell" for bringing people closer together: a list of clues leading all through the city. Each stop along the way adds up to magic.Phoebe is stunned. Not only has she found a priceless piece of history, the letter is exactly what she needs -- she's also separated from her sister, though not by distance. Alice leaves for university soon, but in the meantime, she wants nothing to do with Phoebe. They used to be so close. Now that Phoebe has this magical list, maybe she can fix everything! That is, unless she accidentally makes everything worse instead...From the author of My Secret Guide to Paris comes an unforgettable trip through London, with secret treasures around every corner!
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Twelve-year-old Phoebe has a secret. While on an antiquing trip in Paris with her family in My Secret Guide to Paris, she discovered a beautiful antique compact. Phoebe has worked with her dad in his antiques shop since she was a little girl, and she suspects the compact might be valuable enough to help send her sister Alice to college. Things get a bit more complicated when Phoebe opens it and finds a World War II-era letter containing a mysterious spell to bring people closer together "in more ways than one." Following the steps of the spell leads Phoebe on a scavenger hunt around London. Schroeder is at her best when bringing the city of London to life and depicting the complex relationships between siblings. VERDICT Though the dialogue can be a bit clunky at times, the pacing and setting development should satisfy young fans of Wendy Mass's "Willow Falls" series and other magic-laced middle grade romps.-Gesse Stark-Smith, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
When twelve-year-old Brit Phoebe finds a WWII-era letter with a "spell" to bring two people closer, she hopes it'll fix her relationship with older sister Alice. The letter leads Phoebe to London's iconic locations, giving readers a breezy intro to British history. Though this companion to My Secret Guide to Paris is predictable, Schroeder deftly describes the growing pains siblings can experience. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A 12-year-old Londoner hopes that solving a 75-year-old puzzle will mend her relationship with her big sister. The blonde, white English friend from My Secret Guide to Paris (2014) stars in her own adventure. A week after returning from Paris, Phoebe's exasperated with her sister, Alice, who talks of nothing but her Parisian romance and her university applications. A flea-market find from the holidayone Phoebe suspects is worth rather more than the 10 euros she paid for itgives her the seed of an idea. Hidden in the antique Cartier compact is a letter from a girl in 1941 to her sister, a wartime evacuee living in the countryside. The letter contains a puzzling series of steps that will "bring two people together"; could it mend the relationship between Phoebe and Alice? Though she's a native, Phoebe takes a tourist's view of London as she follows the magical instructions, whether it's making a wish in Trafalgar Square or traveling from Kensington Gardens while reminiscing about the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. History lessons abound; one construction worker who opens with informal and dated slang ("crikey") later recites a tidy, encyclopedia-style summary of the history of Wilton's Music Hall. Not meaty but an entertaining, comfortably predictable path through solving the puzzle of sibling rivalry. (Fiction. 9-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Being a sister is hard. Older sister Alice, coming down hard off of her first heartbreak, is always calling Phoebe immature and childish, and Phoebe wishes that their relationship could be better, closer, and sweeter. With university costs rising wildly, the family is struggling to stay afloat, and when Phoebe finds an antique Cartier compact at a Paris market, it might be the salvation they all need. It's not just because of the windfall there's a secret spell inside. Phoebe and her best friend Ned set out to follow the spell and visit a list of famous London locations (Trafalgar Square, Twinings Tea) in hopes of fixing what's broken between the sisters, following in the footsteps of a pair of sisters separated by war decades before. True to form, Schroeder's companion to My Secret Guide to Paris (2015) is a quick, charming read. The London setting and focus on two sisters make this ideal for readers who are a bit above the fluffy Cupcake Diaries series and its contemporaries.--Comfort, Stacey Copyright 2016 Booklist