The Multiplying Menace
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Twelve-year-old Maggie Malloy can make wishes come true. But she’s learned that people like magic better in storybooks than in real life, and longs to find someone who understands her power. When she’s forced to spend a year with her grandmother, Maggie discovers an old magic repair shop—and the owner, Mr. McGuire, is a real magician, just like Maggie! She becomes Mr. Maguire’s apprentice and learns how to repair cauldrons, break disfiguring hexes, and mend magic hats that won’t stop duplicating rabbits. But Maggie is in more trouble than she bargained for when an evil magician, Milo the Magnificent, comes to town with his deadly magic act….
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Maggie's magical powers whatever she wishes for comes true render a classmate bald and get Maggie expelled at the start of Marrone's (Devoured) Magic Repair Shop series. Since Maggie's entomologist parents are leaving for a year in the Amazon, the soon to be sixth grader reluctantly goes to live with her grandmother in Connecticut, where she discovers that her late grandfather used to work at a "magic repair shop." After she follows magician Milo the Magnificent (whose rabbits are multiplying out of control) to the store, she is hired to help solve Milo's problem, catapulting her into a convoluted mystery involving the magician's ill-fated spell to duplicate himself. Maggie's use (and avoidance) of her wishing power don't seem to follow an internal logic, making it feel more like a plot device than an ability she's been aware of for several years; while Maggie has no problem using her power to ace her new school's entrance exam, she never considers using it to avoid being sent to Connecticut. Despite such inconsistencies, Marrone's humor is on target, and the lighthearted story line should keep readers' interest. Ages 8 12.
