Customer Reviews

Interference Powder

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Nina is in fifth grade. Her friend Isobel has always been "the smart one" and Nina's always been "the artistic one." With the help--or interference--of magic, this gets turned on its head. Trying to use the magic to fix things just makes them worse. In the end, Nina has to drop the tricks and be herself in order to put her life on an even keel again. The people around her understand her better when she does, too.

Almost everybody has thought about how to use three wishes, or magic powder, or a million dollars. It's fun to watch one more attempt, and I really didn't mind that some of the scenes were predictable and others were a little unrealistic. Predictable: when Nina's best friend drops her, she meets a couple of other kids and finds out she can have other friends. Predictable: Nina hunts all over for the person she got the magic from and can't find her. At the end of the book, a door opens and there she is! Unrealistic: there's a whole competition among multiple classes about which kid knows the most about New Amsterdam, which is just one unit in their history class? Unrealistic: she takes parsnips to a pot-luck?

Most of the book is realistic and fun, however. The dialog is snappy: her mom's wake-up call is, "In five minutes there will be a hot piece of toast and a hot scrambled egg on the table. In six minutes there will be a cold piece of toast and a cold scrambled egg on the kitchen table. In seven minutes there will be NO TOAST AND NO EGG ON THE KITCHEN TABLE. So get up." The two of them make a nice family.

In a few months I will have forgotten that I read this book, probably. But it's enjoyable while it lasts, and I'm pretty hopeful that the author's next books will be even better.

This book is a breezy, fun read about friendship and growing up. The girl's adventures are magical in a way, but the story is grounded in a very real-world situation, a 5th grade girl trying to figure out who she is, who her real friends are, and what matters in life. What's great is that the message is not preachy and didactic, but heartfelt and very clear. I think it will help young girls think about identity-- while also making them laugh.