Need a little magic to help get you through the day?

Children’s books are my favorite diversion. Once while reading Roald Dahl’s The BFG (short for Big Friendly Giant) on a long flight, I got some strange looks from the flight attendants, but I “whizpoppered” my way through the long flight with Sophie – better than any of the other “human beans” on board.

In David Progue’s Abby Carnelia’s One and Only Magical Power, Abby discovers she can twirl a hard-boiled egg in the air by pulling on her earlobes. Thinking she has discovered an interest in magic tricks, her parents send her off to a summer camp for budding magicians.

There, Abby meets 3 other middle-schoolers who have strange unexplainable powers: Ricky can fog glass, Eliza can float one-quarter inch off the ground, and Ben flips a key in his hand. Their “triggers” – the abracadabra in a magic trick – are all pretty funny and as bizarre as their powers.

Progue, a New York Times columnist, develops the story into a mix of Harry Potter meets Nancy Drew, and uncovers a sinister plot. Of course, the heroine, Abby, saves the day and there is a happy ending.  But the message is for adults as well as children, and the story will capture you.

Give yourself a treat; be a kid again and “…find your magic.”  You might learn to appreciate your own special gifts.

“…is there something waiting to be discovered inside every kid on earth?