Hither & Nigh (Hither & Nigh #1)

A thrilling page-turner.

Three years after Nell Batista's brother, River, vanished from Washington Square Park, skipping class to hustle chess players lands seventh grader Nell in the Last Chance Club, an after-school program. She's there alongside three eighth graders: beautiful bully Annika Rapp, once friend to River; cute new boy Tom Gunnerson, a rich kid in for stealing; and hulking Crud, who is rumored to be violent. Instead of doing community service, they're supposed to "perform miracles, help avert disasters, et cetera" by learning magic from mysterious Mr. Boot, who bears strangely detailed files on each child. As her magic skills develop and Nell glimpses River, she soon stumbles upon the Nigh--an alternate realm in which centuries' worth of children, kidnapped for their powerful imaginations, are trained by Magicians to build towering cities with their minds. Balancing the tweens' everyday social pressures with a dangerous quest across the fantastical 19th-century version of New York City that is the Nigh, Potter (the Big Foot and Little Foot series) satisfyingly blends contemporary snark with physical adventures heightened by spell-casting misfires, anxious close calls, and just-scary-enough monsters. Nell cues as Latinx; other characters default to white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Alice Tasman, Jean V. Naggar Literary. (Sept.)

Gr 4-8--A New York City seventh grader at Bright Futures Academy, Nell Batista faces detention with eighth graders Annika, "Crud," and Tom. Annika has brown hair and green eyes; Crud has dark hair; Tom has yellow hair and blue eyes. They are startled when their detention monitor, Mr. Boot, announces he is there to teach them magic using chopsticks. That day, each of them is permitted to wish for something lost, and Nell chooses her missing brother, River, who disappeared three years ago from Washington Square Park. Nell's life becomes a dizzying mix of magic classes, everyday problems with friends and family, and eventually, a journey to the Nigh--a parallel realm where magical beings dwell. Nell returns to Hither (her world) but suspects her brother River was brought to Nigh and makes another expedition there with her friends. This is a whimsical, ambitious story, built by children's imagination and numerous significant subplots. It is grounded by Nell's first-person storytelling and her love for River. The abundance of plotting is further anchored by the moral decisions each character must make: should Nell cage a magical creature to find her brother? Did Annika use social media to bully a classmate? Universal realistic themes are used as jumping-off points for magical elevators, talking park statues, and other fantastical details that readers will find appealing, and the action ends on a cliffhanger that will leave tweens wanting more. No skin tones are described. VERDICT A domestic fantasy that covers a lot of ground with solid character development, this novel will be enjoyed by many readers.--Caitlin Augusta