Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found

Magic has all but disappeared in Brooklyn, but one tenacious young magician is determined to bring it back in this exciting middle grade mystery.

Twelve-year-old Kingston has just moved from the suburbs back to Echo City, Brooklyn—the last place his father was seen alive. Kingston's father was King Preston, one of the world's greatest magicians. Until one trick went wrong and he disappeared. Now that Kingston is back in Echo City, he's determined to find his father.

Somehow, though, when his father disappeared, he took all of Echo City's magic with him. Now Echo City—a ghost of its past—is living up to its name. With no magic left, the magicians have packed up and left town and those who've stayed behind don't look too kindly on any who reminds them of what they once had.

When Kingston finds a magic box his father left behind as a clue, Kingston knows there's more to his father's disappearance than meets the eye. He'll have to keep it a secret—that is, until he can restore magic to Echo City. With his cousin Veronica and childhood friend Too Tall Eddie, Kingston works to solve the clues, but one wrong move and his father might not be the only one who goes missing.

• ISBN10: 0525516867
• ISBN13: 9780525516866
• Publish Date: 16 February 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: G.P.Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers'
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780525516866

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found is a new middle grade novel, one that hopes to open up a world of imagination and magic to a younger audience. It's written by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi, the pseudonyms for Craig Phillips and Harold Hayes, Jr.

Kingston has always loved magic. Even when it was that very love that took away his father. You see, one moment he was there, on the stage. The next he was gone. Yet Kingston still feels a connection there, and a hope that his father will come back, one day.

Now that Kingston is back in Echo City, the hunt for his father – and all of his secrets – is about to begin in earnest. However, even Kingston's imagination wouldn't have been able to predict everything he's about to discover.

“She looks at me with that side-eye and headshake like, look at this kid.
Nuts like his father.”

Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found is a fun and fast-paced read, one that I think (and hope) a lot of young readers will enjoy. Especially those that love adventure, magic, and any combination of the two.

I honestly adored the focus on Kingston and his missing father. It single-handedly added such a human element, while still carrying such a strong air of intrigue and mystery. It takes a while for the full story to become revealed, and that just further adds to the mystery of it all.

Likewise, the blurring of the lines between real and magical was brilliantly done. One moment Kingston is grounded in the real world. In Brooklyn. The next, he's off in another realm. Or he's in a stranger border between the two. It was enchanting, on every level.

This is a novel that starts out slow, taking the time to introduce the characters, plot, and all the conflict found within. But it quickly picks up the pace, until the readers are in the middle of a whirlwind adventure. Personally, that is the perfect order of pacing in my mind, and it made for an ideal experience here.

Ultimately, I really can't recommend Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found enough, especially for any readers looking to try something new and different. Bonus points for making a read that both adults and younger readers can enjoy here (though the focus, naturally, is on a younger audience).

Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks