New magical middle grade fiction

 There are some great new books coming out in the next few weeks, some you really don't want to miss!  These two magical tales should be right at the top of your list.

The first one is called Root Magic by Eden Royce.  It's set in the low country of South Carolina in 1963.  Jezebel and her twin brother Jay are growing up on the edge of a marsh with their mother and their uncle.  Their dad disappeared quite some time ago and their grandmother has just died at the opening of the book.  It turns out, in addition to dealing with some of the racist attitudes of the time, Jezebel and Jay are starting to come into their powers related to root magic-a kind of magic that is connected to the Gullah culture and traces it's roots back to Africa.  Many people of the community are afraid of the magic, although some seek their family to receive the cures and treatments.  School is hard because the other kids are mean to Jez.  Jay is friendlier and has good friends and Jez worries that they won't be as close because of all his new found friends.  A new girl named Susie joins their class and suddenly Jez has a friend like she's never had before.  The root magic lessons teach the kids some scary lessons.  The police of their small town are also teaching some scary lessons.  This is a very compelling story with lots of great plot points-growing up and finding your own place, racism and police brutality (but also police officers who are kind and caring), root magic and a strong connection to your family and culture.  Kids and teachers will find lots of things to like about this one!  It came out at the beginning of January.  Don't miss it.  

The second one is called The Retake by Jen Calonita.  It's about Zoe who is starting seventh grade.  She has one best friend, Laura and they've been best friends since elementary school.  But they spent quite a bit of time on separate projects over the summer so Zoe wants to make sure that she and Laura start the school year celebrating Laura's birthday just like they do every year.  Except that Laura tells her that she's busy and the busy turns out to be with different friends in the same place.  Zoe is hurt and tries to figure out what's going on, but her big sister Taryn isn't much help and neither is her mom.  Zoe ends up in the front office at school on the first day and meets a mysterious stranger and then finds a new app on her phone-a Retake app.  Zoe figures out that she can time travel with the app by bringing up a picture from a time past, she can go back in time.  Zoe decides to go back to a time when she and Laura were still friends to see if she can fix things so that they can go back to the way that they were.  This is a terrific premise-if you go back in time, would your choices make a difference?  And would the differences be a good thing? I'm sure lots of kids think about this very thing and going through this project with Zoe is SO much less messy than doing it yourself!  The characters are appealing and the way the choices are laid out will give readers a lot to think about.  This would be a great one to connect with Gordon Korman's story Retstart, which is about a kid who wakes up with amnesia after a fall from the roof.  I think this one will be a big hit too!  It comes out at the end of February.