Friday Memes: The Root of Magic by Kathleen Benner Duble

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

Image: Penguin Random House

The Root of Magic by Kathleen Benner Duble. 214 p. Delacorte Books for Young Readers/ Penguin Random House, June, 2019. 9780525578505.

Publisher synopsis: A deeply felt sibling story set in a town where people have a mysterious magical power and one girl is determined to discover what it is, for readers of Lauren Myracle and Ingrid Law. 

Willow knows the unknown is scary. Especially when your little brother has been sick for a long time and nobody has been able to figure out why. All Willow wants is for her brother to get better and for her her life to go back to normal. 

But after a bad stroke of luck, Willow and her family find themselves stranded in an unusual town in the middle of nowhere and their life begins to change in the most unexpected way. Willow soon discovers that the town isn’t just unusual—it’s magical—and the truth is more exciting that she ever imagined.

Will Willow find that this could be the secret to saving her family—or discover that the root of magic could lead them to something greater?

First Line: "Are we going to die?" Wisp asks from the depths of his blankets in the backseat.

Page 56: "Someone always finds you," Topher says with confidence. "Layla and James found you, didn't they?

Willow isn't sure how to respond to this. While it's true that they were found, it is also possible that they wouldn't have been. And then what would have happened? Willow shivers. She doesn't want to ever think again about the car tilting on the bridge that night and the rushing waters below them.