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Fantasy. Juvenile Fiction. Juvenile Literature. HTML:The magical, bestselling series from Pseudonymous Bosch, the author of the Secret Series! Magic is BAD. As in fake. Cheesy. Unreal. At least, that's what Clay, who has seen one magic show too many, thinks. When words from his journal appear mysteriously on his school wall as graffiti, he never imagines that magic might be to blame. And when the same graffiti lands him at Earth Ranch, a camp for "troubled" kids on a remote volcanic island, magic is the last thing he expects to find there. But at Earth Ranch, there is one strange surprise after another, until Clay no longer knows what to expect. Is he really talking to a llama? Did he really see a ghost? What is the scary secret hidden in the abandoned library? The only thing he knows for sure is that behind the clouds of vog (volcanic smog), nothing is as it seems. Can he solve the riddle of Earth Ranch before trouble erupts? Elusive author Pseudonymous Bosch introduces an extraordinary new series that will have you believing in the unbelievable.… (more)
User reviews
Bosch uses wry humor and a comfortable
He has recently performed in a school play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, which also involves magic. Before the reader even realizes it, Bosch is sharing/teaching about the play in a most entertaining way which moves the plot of the book right along. Bosch uses footnotes (super easy in the e-version) to define words or add details in his witty style, making one not want to miss a single footnote!
But Clay's life hits a downward spiral when graffiti appears on a wall at school and everyone believes he did it. He knows he didn't, but neither the school administrators nor his parents believe him. The school insists that the parents see that he faces "consequences" for the action, and that's how he gets sent to a summer camp for wayward kids.
And THAT'S where the magic and the mystery both kick in! Entertaining and likeable characters with clever dialog make this an enjoyable read from cover to cover...not to mention that one just might learn how to's on some magic tricks along the way, or even give Shakespeare a chance!
I received a pre-publication e-book from NetGalley. The book should be available where books are sold in September 2014, so be looking for it.
The story had much potential but I found the story lacking. The story felt incomplete with all the transitions and needed to be expanded on. There were several ways the story could have turned but all fell flat leaving the reader to wonder the importance of that section. The ending was a disappointment and the vastness of how it was played out was unrealistic. I was hoping for a bit more magic and mystery but all in all very disappointing since there was little magic and the mystery all washed out.
Clay has been given a journal and by some crazy turn of events, what he has written in the journal has appeared on a wall at school as graffiti. He is briskly shipped off to an island camp called Earth Ranch were he has a llama in his care, has to eat loads of vegetables, and he cannot go outside the Wall of Trust - the boundary of the camp.
The lure of the mysterious palace that lies outside of the boundary pulls Clay into a crazy tale of ghosts, a rich man, and a library... but all of this is even more crazy because of how he landed at the camp in the first place. Is there really magic? Is everyone crazy?
I felt like this book was a whirlwind of crazy ideas, information and people. It was very creative story and I loved the interspersing of Shakespeare throughout. I really liked Clay. I liked where the story was headed and found myself hoping for a certain ending... what I got was not what I expected. It was fun but almost over the top silly. I wish I could tell you more but think I would overly spoil it for future readers. I enjoyed the book but it wasn't one of my favorites.
In Clay’s middle school year, he saw 2 words “Magic Sucks!” on the school wall that he wrote exactly in his journal the night before. Clay’s Latin teacher, Mr. Bailey, suspected him for the whole school year. At the end of the year, a letter from Mr. Bailey about some camps he should go to while his family is having a conversation. His parents told him that if he didn’t pick a camp to go to for the summer, he couldn’t go to 7th grade. So, Clay picked a camp located on a remote island near Hawaii where kids can feed llamas and climb a volcano. It also said the island was owned by a very rich person named Randolph Price.
His journey to was full of coinincedence A couple of days later, he boarded a seaplane named Tempest. He was very surprised because he just did a play with Mr. Bailey called the Tempest. When he got on, a man named Skipper and his dog, Gilligan, greeted him. He was surprised again because Gilligan was also from the Tempest. When he arrived on the island a couple of hours later, they landed on the water near the island and Skipper threw him, his backpack and a box that he told him to get to the camp. Unexpectedly, Skipper left!! Now Clay thought that he was marooned and doomed until he meets a llama on the shore. He then follows him all the way to a weird place. Suddenly, the llama disappears. Then he sees a boy in a newspaper boy hat. It turns out that it was a girl and the one that took the llama. She says that her name was Leira. Then, she leads him to the camp that was protected by a beautiful lake. When he gets to his cabin, The Worms, he finds out that he made a big mistake of coming. The other 3 boys looked as they came from a garbage bin rock band. The next morning, he wakes up very early. When he looks in to the other beds, he sees nobody, suddenly; his counselor comes in and tells him that everybody was weeding and that they start at 5 am, so that they don’t get hot. A couple of days later, Clay went to the bathroom at night with his other cabin mate when he met another older boy from another cabin. His name was Flint. Then, he saw on the mirror the exact same handwriting as it appeared at school but it said “MAGIC ROCKS!” The next day, he asked his counselor if he could walk his llama to the abandoned house next to the camp that used to be owned by Randolph Price. He said yes but told him to not enter it. When he gets to the house, his llama ran in to the bounders. Clay had no choice but to run in after him. When he crossed, he saw a girl reading a book inside. So, he went in to investigate. While he was inside the house, the door that he used to get in opened. Will Clay get in big trouble or will he manage to escape and find out what the thing was that was opening the door to the fence and why the camp seemed so mysterious to him?
My favorite character was Flint because he seems very mysterious and he seems to be up to something. Also, he was an amazing illusionist, which he tells Clay later in the book. If I were the author, I would change the end because it doesn’t seem right to end the story without Clay seeing Max-Ernest.
I would recommend this book to 3rd to 6th grade readers. I would also love to rate this book 9 out of 10.
I found this book to be a very smooth and steady read. I became engrossed in the story very easily and was able to imagine the characters in my mind with ease. I believe that any age group could have a good time with the book and I plan on passing it over to my children. I was surprised by the end of the story and did not expect it to end as it did. This was a nice surprise for me! I look forward to seeing other books in this series from the author. I want to thank both Goodreads and the author for sending this book to me in a giveaway. It was much appreciated and I highly recommend this book to anyone. I would also recommend this book for extra reading for homeschool families.
In a story that reminded me a little of Louis Sachar's Holes,