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A review by smitchy
A Most Magical Girl by Karen Foxlee
3.0
So I read this one as it was mentioned in one of the many articles I am reading for my teaching degree with the opening paragraph being used as an exemplar for "setting". It sounded good so I immediately borrowed the audio edition and got listening.
The story itself is totally fine - young spoiled girl discovers she is from a magical family and then suddenly has to save "all of good magic" with the help of some reluctant new friends. She discovers she is more capable than she ever imagined.
My issue with the book is with the imagery used - particularly in the context of a classroom environment - Our young heroine, Annabelle, is white, blond and pretty (multiple characters remark her prettiness). Our antagonist, Mr Angel, is tall, creepy and "crooked" (I assume that means hunchbacked or just not standing upright). He is also white (Or I assumed him to be as it is never explicitly stated - unlike the heroine- but as the book itself is set in London in the later part of the 1800s). But then he raises "shadowlings", brings darkness has a black wand made from ebony. While Annabelle is is working for the "the great and benevolent magical society" comprised of "good", if mostly ancient, magicians and is sent for the "white wand" and who in spite of being clueless, a bit dense, and (IMO) a bit blank as a character, everyone ends up just loving.
Now, I don't want people to start hating on this book specifically; The black =evil and white = good is not at all an uncommon trope in fantasy (its used in Lord of the Rings and many other stories; If you watch Disney movies they use the same themes in visual cues to communicate character) but it was mentioned so frequently and was so prevalent in this story I really struggled with it. Especially thinking about if or how I would use this text in a classroom. If it was used, how could I start to have a conversation with primary school aged children about the racial undertones and subconscious racial themes in literature. I am giving the author the benefit of the doubt and assuming that she meant no more with her text than the physical absence of light and the use of a common literary device.
Nothing would be lost from this story if the bad guy raised grey or purple shadows and had a wand made from purple crystal or if the "good" wand was green or silver and made from unicorn farts. Thinking about this book in the mindset of a (learning to be) primary grade teacher with all of the many things we are supposed to be teaching, including helping kids to love and accept themselves and be proud of their racial background and diversity, if they hear in literature that black =evil, even if it is only in a fantasy story, then at some level all kids (regardless of their own skin colour) start to make subconscious connections.
These are things I am becoming more aware of and it is a process. I'm not hating on this particular book, like I said this is a very common descriptive device that is so ingrained into media of all forms we all recognise it instantly but I don't think I'll be using it (or any other book that uses it) in a classroom unless I am confident and competent to have these conversations. In the meantime I will practice by having these conversation with the adults and kids in my life.
The story itself is totally fine - young spoiled girl discovers she is from a magical family and then suddenly has to save "all of good magic" with the help of some reluctant new friends. She discovers she is more capable than she ever imagined.
My issue with the book is with the imagery used - particularly in the context of a classroom environment - Our young heroine, Annabelle, is white, blond and pretty (multiple characters remark her prettiness). Our antagonist, Mr Angel, is tall, creepy and "crooked" (I assume that means hunchbacked or just not standing upright). He is also white (Or I assumed him to be as it is never explicitly stated - unlike the heroine- but as the book itself is set in London in the later part of the 1800s). But then he raises "shadowlings", brings darkness has a black wand made from ebony. While Annabelle is is working for the "the great and benevolent magical society" comprised of "good", if mostly ancient, magicians and is sent for the "white wand" and who in spite of being clueless, a bit dense, and (IMO) a bit blank as a character, everyone ends up just loving.
Now, I don't want people to start hating on this book specifically; The black =evil and white = good is not at all an uncommon trope in fantasy (its used in Lord of the Rings and many other stories; If you watch Disney movies they use the same themes in visual cues to communicate character) but it was mentioned so frequently and was so prevalent in this story I really struggled with it. Especially thinking about if or how I would use this text in a classroom. If it was used, how could I start to have a conversation with primary school aged children about the racial undertones and subconscious racial themes in literature. I am giving the author the benefit of the doubt and assuming that she meant no more with her text than the physical absence of light and the use of a common literary device.
Nothing would be lost from this story if the bad guy raised grey or purple shadows and had a wand made from purple crystal or if the "good" wand was green or silver and made from unicorn farts. Thinking about this book in the mindset of a (learning to be) primary grade teacher with all of the many things we are supposed to be teaching, including helping kids to love and accept themselves and be proud of their racial background and diversity, if they hear in literature that black =evil, even if it is only in a fantasy story, then at some level all kids (regardless of their own skin colour) start to make subconscious connections.
These are things I am becoming more aware of and it is a process. I'm not hating on this particular book, like I said this is a very common descriptive device that is so ingrained into media of all forms we all recognise it instantly but I don't think I'll be using it (or any other book that uses it) in a classroom unless I am confident and competent to have these conversations. In the meantime I will practice by having these conversation with the adults and kids in my life.