The Forgotten Magic of Zoey Turner - Erin Stewart - ★★.¾

AUTHOR: Erin Stewart

GENRE: Middle-Grade Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: January 14, 2025

RATING: 2.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade fantasy about a young girl coping with anxiety disorder. I loved the intent, but perhaps the execution could have worked a little better. The themes are relevant but also somewhat lopsided. A decent read, but not a great one for me. This is an outlier review.

Plot Preview:

Zoey had loved spending time with her dad, discussing their favourite fantasy series by author Raven M. Wells. But after his death nine months ago in a freak accident, Zoey finds herself alone, struggling to interact with anyone else except her mom, her best friend Lena, and Jada – the owner of her favourite bookstore.

When Zoey learns that Raven M. Wells is arriving at another bookstore for a signing, she decides to go beyond her comfort zone in order to secure an autograph. However, due to some unforeseen events, Zoey ends with a novelty pencil embossed with the word: “Make Your Own Magic.” On the next day, to Zoey’s surprise, she discovers that the story she wrote with the pencil has come true. Does Zoey now have control over future events? Can she use the pencil to write some happiness into her life?

The story comes to us in Zoey’s first-person perspective.

Finding a magic implement to make changes in one’s life is a fairly common trope in middle-grade fantasy. Having a protagonist who is dealing with a mental health issue is also becoming a common theme, thanks to the many appreciable attempts at bringing inclusivity into this genre. When two of the main themes of the book are thus no longer that path-breaking, the book needs to work that much harder to impress. Unfortunately, this novel, though good, couldn’t really cross the line to ‘great’ for me.

There are quite a few things I enjoyed about this story. My favourite part was the focus on books and how much they impact our life choices and help us during challenging times. No bibliophile could hate such content! I also loved the setting of the Ever After shop, which feels like a quaint indie bookstore that knows its customers and its books equally well.

One thing that’s different this time about the trope of a magical future-altering object is that the writers of these alterations, Zoey and Derek, are avid fantasy fans. So they use their knowledge of fantasy adventures to guess the path to be taken. Kids who enjoy fantasy will enjoy their discussions on this genre and its common tropes. Of course, the magic is not really the highlight of the book, so despite what that stunning cover indicates, the core content is more like a dramatic adventure than a fantastical one.

Zoey as a protagonist evoked mixed feelings in me. While I liked the portrayal of her grief over the loss of her dad, her struggle to accept the changes in her life, her anger over her mother’s apparent decision to move on, and her anxiety that manifests in frustrating ways, I didn’t like how she was somewhat self-centred at times, refusing to see the picture from the other characters’ eyes. She didn’t communicate with her mother, she kept secrets and even lied about her whereabouts when she had to venture on her quest for an interaction with Raven. She also participated in name-calling and teasing. (“Bullying the bully is right” isn’t a lesson that MG fiction ought to propagate. It turns into a vicious cycle.) All this might be realistic behaviour indicative of today’s middle-graders, but it's not what I want to read in children's fiction. I'm still old-school and I want such books to teach good values to kids.

Zoey’s friend Lena is somewhat better sketched. Unfortunately, her arc is a bit inconsistent as she enters and exits Zoey’s life quite randomly. (A part of the blame for this lies with Zoey.) The other main child character is Derek, who is, as typical, an “enemy turned friend”. His personality seems the most consistent of the trio. The remaining kids have limited roles, either as friends or bullies, no in-between. The adults are in minimal roles, and appear only as and when needed.

Zoey’s mental health struggles get a prime focus in the plot. However, the depiction is a bit cluttered. Zoey is said to have anxiety disorder, which manifested after her father’s passing. In the story, Zoey does exhibit anxiety (and its related common symptoms such as struggling to go in a crowd or feeling panicky or worrying too much over trivial reasons), but she also shows other unusual tendencies such as an obsession with sanitising every surface/object she has to touch or a habit of poring over scary stats of various possible causes of death. I think the symptoms, no matter how accurate they are, should have been restricted to the common ones rather than spreading the net so wide. Kids might misunderstand Zoey’s OCD about germs and hygiene to be a part of anxiety disorder, which isn’t necessarily true. Moreover, if any children who face similar anxiety issues read this book, either they'll feel heard or they'll freak out at her scary data and enhance their own anxiety.

The book began a bit slowly, but it still held my attention. However, once it incorporated a few tropes that I am not too fond of, my interest started waning.

😕 I am never a fan of middle-grade books bringing up the idea of crushes. This one even declares, “"It's seventh grade. You have to like somebody!" Thankfully, this isn't said by Zoey and she seems to be more against the idea, but when a “cool girl” makes such claims, little readers might take it seriously.

😕 I am bored of the now common trope about being suddenly ditched by your best friend and finding a new bestie in your nemesis. The first part is still fine, but why does a new connection have to involve someone who hurt you before, and that too, to an extent where this new “friend” knows more than all other friends and even parents about your secret plans? Shouldn’t kids learn to rely on someone more familiar and trustworthy than to count only on the new entrants in their life to provide assistance?

😕 I hate the depiction of Zoey’s mother’s potential new romance. Why was this necessary for a story, especially when Zoey’s father passed away just nine months earlier? Why can’t grieving be normalised, instead of showing it as something to be surpassed as soon as possible?

😕 Furthermore, almost every main character in the story, whether adult or young, has a tragedy in their past. This is annoying and unnecessary. The focus should have stayed on Zoey’s (and her mom’s) grief and anxiety – these were potent enough to carry the plot. Why should every character be dealing with equally difficult psychological problems?

😕 I am disappointed by how easily Zoey could overcome most of her mental struggles by the end of the book. In children’s fiction, a happy ending is the norm. However, anxiety cannot be brushed away within just a couple of days or weeks; overcoming it is a long process that takes constant efforts. This easy resolution isn’t helpful for youngsters who might be struggling with the same issues.

😕 Lastly, the representation of male characters. There are no good (alive) dads in the story, though we see three active moms. Why are dads the bad guys so often in MG fiction?

Of course, many of my negatives are thanks to personal preferences, so these might not bother all readers.

All in all, I did like many things about this book, but I feel like it trod too closely on the formulaic path. None of the plot points set it apart from other middle-grade novels dealing with similar theme. It is still a decent story, but its greater potential isn’t fulfilled.

Recommended, but not too vehemently. Perhaps, this could be a good one-time read borrowed from the library. Then again, mine is an outlier review, so please do look at other opinions and take a more informed decision.

My thanks to Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and Aladdin for providing the DRC of “The Forgotten Magic of Zoey Turner” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.