Author: Kallie George
Illustrator: Alexandra Boiger
© Date: 2015
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 128
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Yes, most page layouts have an illustration
Publisher Recommended Age: 7-10 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No
Summary from Book: Despite her name, Clover has always felt decidedly unlucky. So when she stumbles upon a mysterious cottage in the Woods, she can hardly believe her good fortune. It’s the Magical Animal Adoption Agency, and it houses creatures of all kinds. Fairy horses, unicorns, and a fiery young dragon are just the beginning!
Mr. Jams, the Agency’s owner, agrees to hire her as a summer helper, and Clover hopes her luck has finally changed. But when she’s left alone to care for the Agency, a sneaky witch comes after the magical creatures! Will Clover outsmart her in time to protect the animals?
Featuring enchanting illustrations by Alexandra Boiger, Kallie George’s charming tale, the first in the Magical Animal Adoption Agency series, is filled with heart and bursting with magic.
Page Pig Thoughts: Well written and sweet, this was an enjoyable read. I particularly enjoyed rethinking the image that we have of ourselves because maybe we aren’t framing ourselves in the right light. I did not go into this one with high hopes for a good book, but I am rather looking forward to the next book in the series.
Use caution with younger readers, the scene with the witch capturing Clover may be unsettling.
Family Unit: Clover lives with her mother and father
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Clover feels that she has bad luck.
- A witch keeps tricking Clover and taking things from the magical animals (hair, talons, etc.).
Positive Items:
- Clover discovers that she was looking at her luck all wrong.
- “No animal is too unusual to adopt” at the Magical Animal Adoption Agency and a few find their homes under Clover’s watch.
- Clover takes care of the animals well on her own (feeding, cleaning, etc) as well as takes the initiative to look in the wish book to see if she can match anyone to an animal. She also works to learn about the animals.
- Opening Lines – “Luck is like magic. It’s mysterious and exciting and impossible to explain. It can’t be described by equations or logic or even by books. You just have to believe.”
Items of Interest:
- Clover must keep the Magical Animal Adoption Agency secret from everyone, including her parents.
- Clover’s parents commonly work late at the mayor’s office.
- Clover believes that she is super unlucky and that none of her lucky charms, like a horseshoe, actually do any good.
- Clover has always loved animals, her first word was “meow.” She has had many unlucky accidents with her pets. A baseball broke through her bedroom window which let her canary escape.
- Clover chases after her canary and winds up going into The Woods where no one from her village goes because beasts are supposed to live there.
- Clover feels like her summer will be boring because her best friend lucked into a spot at the pony camp that they both wanted to go to, so now Clover is left on her own all summer.
- The Agency has several unicorns because they are common gifts for princesses, including spoiled ones, that get bored of them and don’t take proper care of them. They have unfortunate names because princesses don’t have much sense. One unicorn has ribs sticking out because he was not properly cared for and his horn was filed down to be “more stylish.”
- On Clover’s second day at the Agency, she finds a note from Mr. Jams indicating that he needed to go away on urgent business. Clover is left to take care of the animals and oversee adoptions on her own.
- A witch kept tricking Clover and stealing items from the magical animals. The witch also tricks Clover into coming to her house and puts a spell on Clover to capture her into a cage. The witch pricks Clover’s finger with a pin to collect some blood then intends to leave her in the cage until she dies. The witch received a fortune that said that she would bring good luck to everyone, so she had spent her entire life working to make a lifetime supply of bad luck potion to spread everywhere. Since Clover is actually very lucky, not unlucky, the witch’s potion goes wrong and the witch will now spend a lifetime casting helpful spells for everyone.
- Due to the witch incident, Clover realizes that all of the incidents that she thought meant that she was super unlucky were indeed paths to very lucky outcomes. She just needed to change her perspective to realize just how lucky she really was.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
- Book 2 – The Enchanted Egg
- Book 3 – The Missing Magic