A Snicker of Magic - Natalie Lloyd
Introducing an extraordinary new voice — a magical debut that will make your skin tingle, your eyes glisten . . . and your heart sing.Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, a town where people could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers. But that was long ago, before a curse drove the magic away. Twelve-year-old Felicity knows all about things like that; her nomadic mother is cursed with a wandering heart.
But when she arrives in Midnight Gulch, Felicity thinks her luck's about to change. A "word collector," Felicity sees words everywhere — shining above strangers, tucked into church eves, and tangled up her dog's floppy ears — but Midnight Gulch is the first place she's ever seen the word "home." And then there's Jonah, a mysterious, spiky-haired do-gooder who shimmers with words Felicity's never seen before, words that make Felicity's heart beat a little faster.
Felicity wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything, but first she'll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that's been cast over the town . . . and her mother's broken heart.
~Excerpt taken from Amazon.ca
But when she arrives in Midnight Gulch, Felicity thinks her luck's about to change. A "word collector," Felicity sees words everywhere — shining above strangers, tucked into church eves, and tangled up her dog's floppy ears — but Midnight Gulch is the first place she's ever seen the word "home." And then there's Jonah, a mysterious, spiky-haired do-gooder who shimmers with words Felicity's never seen before, words that make Felicity's heart beat a little faster.
Felicity wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything, but first she'll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that's been cast over the town . . . and her mother's broken heart.
~Excerpt taken from Amazon.ca
Author's Website
Themes: Family, Home, Love, Storytelling, Magic,
Recommended Grades - Grades 3 to 7
Reading Level - 4.2
Suggested Uses: Read Aloud, Use sections to demonstrate great descriptive writing, Add to Literature Circles
Literature Circle Suggestions:
People with Unique Abilities (As suggested by classroombookshelf.com)
Saavy - by Ingrid Law
A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
I have also suggested Using it here with Circus Mirandus
and other books that include a magical element.
Themes: Family, Home, Love, Storytelling, Magic,
Recommended Grades - Grades 3 to 7
Reading Level - 4.2
Suggested Uses: Read Aloud, Use sections to demonstrate great descriptive writing, Add to Literature Circles
Literature Circle Suggestions:
People with Unique Abilities (As suggested by classroombookshelf.com)
Saavy - by Ingrid Law
A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
I have also suggested Using it here with Circus Mirandus
and other books that include a magical element.
At the Classroom Bookshelf.com, Erika Thulin Dawes provides a fantastic list of ways to Use A Snicker of Magic in the classroom, including teaching literary elements of Theme, Setting, and Characterization.
Another of her suggestions is to Create Found Poems with your class. - Because Felicity is a word collector!
In addition to her suggestion, I also thinking a digital component to this would be great. Have students 'find' words around them on books, packages, in newspapers. Then have them arrange them into poetry and take pictures of their poetry to share. Then have them write about how they 'found' their words and created their visual found poems.
Comprehension and Discussion Questions - I have written a few questions in sections for you to use. Edit away and use them as you need to / want to!
For younger grades, this package from Scholastic has some good activities
Discussion Questions from Scholastic
Taking SnapShots of the Novel: (Instagram them!! So to speak)
A simple task really - Imagine you could take a snapshot of a scene from this section of your book. Draw and color what you “see” of the setting when you read. Add a clever caption to it.
Text Message Conversations:
Select two main characters from this section of your book and imagine they are having a conversation about an event in this section of the book. Write what they might say in a few text messages to each other – please include enough details that we can infer the event.
Writing Task:
I love these quotes from the novel to spark writing opportunities:
"Every person you will ever meet, and every place you will ever go, and every building you set foot in - has a story to tell." (p.17)
"'Everybody has a talent." Jonah gave me a searching look.
I shook my head. 'There's not much I'm talented at. Except climbing trees. And I can drink a milk shake real fast and not get brain freeze.'' (p. 37)
"Before Stone climbed into the balloon, he told me to stop wasting my time and try to do some good with my life. 'Your words matter more than you know' is what he told me." (p. 92)
Some Samples of Great Text in the Novel: (Notice she uses a lot of similies and alliteration)
"Her eyes used to be as bright blue as a summer sky, but now they looked like jeans faded from too many tumbles through a washing machine." (p. 7)
"The room felt especially icy all of a sudden, like somebody had turned the air condidtionin to "freeze out." (p 21)
"I wished I could give him the word red. Red is a blooming word. I watched it rise up in front of me and sprout leaves and vines that stretched all acroos the apartment complex. Mama and Cleo and Frannie didnt' see it, of course. But I did. I picked an invisible flower and tucked it in my hair." (p. 64)
"I thought of standing on stage with shaky hands and tingling ears and sweaty lips. I thought of how my words came out twisted when I tried to say them in front of all those people. My words were a mess to everybody but my family." (p. 71)
"That night I propped me elbows on the windowsill and stared up at the star-patched sky. If I looked down, I could see the rusty roof of the Pickled Jalapeno parked crooked in the lot. If I looked straight ahead, I could see lights scattered through the dark mountains. They were porch lights, probably. But I imagined they were sleeping stars. I made a wish on every single one of them. Jonah'd be thrilled about me dueling. But I couldn't summon up even a teaspoonful of happiness. In fact, I had a strange, sinking feeling that I'd just made everything worse." (p. 100)
"Tiny dots of rain plinked down, making polka dots all around us on the sidewalk. The thunder rumbled louder. But I didn't want to leave Florentine. She told stores in such a way that I swear my heart heard them before my ears did. I wanted to wrap up in her stories, curl them around my shoulders like a quilt." (p.155)
"The wind didn't rattle Mama, though. She kept swiping the paint roller back and forth across the brick. I watched as new words appear, then fizzle, with every stroke:
Sandstorm
Fly
Away
Home to visit
Home to stay
You don't have to leave to find a new beginning, Mama. You can begin again exactly where you are. That's what I wanted to say to her, but me telling her wouldn't matter."
(p.221)
"Her eyes used to be as bright blue as a summer sky, but now they looked like jeans faded from too many tumbles through a washing machine." (p. 7)
"The room felt especially icy all of a sudden, like somebody had turned the air condidtionin to "freeze out." (p 21)
"I wished I could give him the word red. Red is a blooming word. I watched it rise up in front of me and sprout leaves and vines that stretched all acroos the apartment complex. Mama and Cleo and Frannie didnt' see it, of course. But I did. I picked an invisible flower and tucked it in my hair." (p. 64)
"I thought of standing on stage with shaky hands and tingling ears and sweaty lips. I thought of how my words came out twisted when I tried to say them in front of all those people. My words were a mess to everybody but my family." (p. 71)
"That night I propped me elbows on the windowsill and stared up at the star-patched sky. If I looked down, I could see the rusty roof of the Pickled Jalapeno parked crooked in the lot. If I looked straight ahead, I could see lights scattered through the dark mountains. They were porch lights, probably. But I imagined they were sleeping stars. I made a wish on every single one of them. Jonah'd be thrilled about me dueling. But I couldn't summon up even a teaspoonful of happiness. In fact, I had a strange, sinking feeling that I'd just made everything worse." (p. 100)
"Tiny dots of rain plinked down, making polka dots all around us on the sidewalk. The thunder rumbled louder. But I didn't want to leave Florentine. She told stores in such a way that I swear my heart heard them before my ears did. I wanted to wrap up in her stories, curl them around my shoulders like a quilt." (p.155)
"The wind didn't rattle Mama, though. She kept swiping the paint roller back and forth across the brick. I watched as new words appear, then fizzle, with every stroke:
Sandstorm
Fly
Away
Home to visit
Home to stay
You don't have to leave to find a new beginning, Mama. You can begin again exactly where you are. That's what I wanted to say to her, but me telling her wouldn't matter."
(p.221)