Games Wizards Play

Gr 7 Up—In this 10th installment of the "Young Wizards" series (HMH), Kit, Nita, Dairine, and their wizard friends return for more interplanetary adventures. Every 11 years, Earth's wizards hold the Invitational, a prestigious competition in which young wizards compete to craft and execute the perfect spell. The three young protagonists are each invited to mentor a young wizard in the competition, and each ends up facing unique challenges. Among them, Nita has a complicated vision that could change everything, and through a series of events, the stakes quickly become much higher than winning a contest. The story is slow to develop and heavily hinges on knowledge obtained in previous installments. Everything comes together in the end, though, to create a well-thought-out climax, with a satisfying resolution. Recommend this series to young teens who devour books about magic and wizards.