The Broken Spell

What do you do when a spell goes haywire? Who would ever think magic could be boring? Certainly not Grace, Jenny, Rachel, Adie, and Una, especially after their disastrous first encounter with witchcraft. Now they're stuck learning dusty old theory—until the radiant Ms. Gold comes into town. Before long, she has the coven turning into blond bombshells, creating cute pets out of thin air, and taking fabulous flying lessons! But the daring friends make a magical mistake that drags the past into the present. Suddenly Grace has to work out who she can really trust... Praise for The Demon Notebook: "Funny, a bit scary and surprisingly realistic, preteens will enjoy the easy read, identify with the characters and ask for more."—Kirkus

The Broken Spell: Indian Storytelling and the Romance Genre in Persian and Urdu is a monograph on the rise and fall in popularity of "romances" (qissah)—tales of wonder and magic told by storytellers at princely courts and in public spaces in India from the sixteenth century to the twentieth. Using literary genre theory, author Pasha M. Khan points to the worldviews underlying the popularity of Urdu and Persian romances, before pre-existing Islamicate rationalist traditions gained traction and Western colonialism came to prominence in India. In the introduction, Khan explains that it was around the end of the nineteenth century that these marvelous tales became devalued by Orientalists and intellectually colonized Indian elites, while at the same time a new genre, the novel, gained legitimacy. Khan goes on to narrate the life histories of professional storytellers, many of them émigrés from Iran to Mughal-ruled India, and considers how they raised their own worth and that of the romance in the face of changes in the economics, culture, and patronage of India. Khan shows the methods whereby such storytellers performed and how they promoted themselves and their art. The dividing line between marvelous tales and history is examined, showing how and why the boundary was porous. The study historicizes the Western understanding of the qissah as a local manifestation of a worldwide romance genre, showing that this genre equation had profound ideological effects. The book’s appendix contains a translation of an important text for understanding Iranian and Indian storytelling methods: the unpublished introductory portions to Fakhr al-Zamani’s manual for storytellers. The Broken Spell will appeal to scholars of folklore and fairy-tale studies, comparative literature, South Asian studies, and any reader with an interest in India and Pakistan.

For Grace and her four best friends, magic is just harmless fun-until it's not... Things have gone wrong for Grace, Jenny, Rachel, Adie, and Una. Very wrong. A freak snowstorm stranded the whole school, the history teacher's gone bonkers, and their notebook has taken on a diabolical life of its own, bringing all of their previously failed spells to life. At first the girls are thrilled to see their magic finally working. But the spells are botched and people might get hurt and Una's not acting quite right... Can the girls stop the madness before the demon notebook works through their list of spells, slowly creeping towards the last, truly awful spell that they didn't really want to happen? Winner of the Waverton Good Read Children's Award for best debut novel.

Hannah and Veronica battle a Blood Witch in the thrilling, heartbreaking prequel to These Witches Don't Burn. Turns out, New York City is kind of a nightmare for a witch. Hannah's not exactly loving her trip to the city, considering the huge crowds and layers of concrete blocking her connection to the elements. But a weekend away with her best friend, Gemma, and her girlfriend, Veronica, still has its advantages. After all, it's hard to complain when you're making out with the Statue of Liberty in the background. With Veronica's graduation on the horizon, Hannah is determined to enjoy every second of their time together, even if that means hanging out with Veronica's new friends, a group of Caster Witches determined to stir up trouble with a local Blood Witch. Thrust into the middle of a terrifying magical feud, Hannah begins to question if she can really trust Veronica, especially with her heart. And with a vengeful Blood Witch on their trail, she'll have to use every ounce of her powers to make sure she gets back to Salem alive.

The Zing family lives in a world of misguided spell books, singular poetry, and state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. They use these things to protect the Zing Family Secret -- one so huge that it draws the family to the garden shed for meetings every Friday night. Into their world comes Listen Taylor, a socially isolated girl, about to enter junior high. Her father is dating a Zing, and she barely knows what she's getting into. Enter Cath Murphy, a young teacher at the elementary school that Cassie Zing attends, suffering from a broken heart. How will the worlds of these two young women connect with the delightful madness that is the family Zing?

Book Ten of the Pumpinow series, The Broken Spell, promises to be filled with mystery and intrigue for the young reader(s) in your family. Each adventure with our Royal Dragon Family has brought us to this exciting conclusion. We have enjoyed sharing their journeys with you all. HAPPY READING!

Piers Anthony’s bestselling Xanth series is one of the cornerstones of fantasy, a lively and whimsical interpretation of a genre often criticized for taking itself too seriously. Anthony’s first Xanth novel, A Spell for Chameleon, was initially edited to target a more traditional audience. Now, in an eBook exclusive, A Spell for Chameleon has been reworked line by line—its language matching the simpler, playful way with words that made Piers Anthony an enduring fan favorite. Xanth is an enchanted land where magic rules, a land of centaurs and dragons and basilisks where every citizen has a unique spell to call their own. For Bink of North Village, however, Xanth is no fairy tale. He alone has no magic. And unless he gets some—and fast!—he will be exiled. Forever. But the Good Magician Humfrey is convinced that Bink does indeed have magic. In fact, both Beauregard the genie and the magic wall chart insist that Bink has magic as powerful as any possessed by the King, the Good Magician Humfrey, or even the Evil Magician Trent. Be that as it may, no one can fathom the nature of Bink’s very special magic. This is even worse than having no magic at all . . . and he still faces exile!