"A magical parallel school plus a pair of young detectives add up to a gripping Middle Grade mystery."
February 2025 Debut of the Month
Fuelled by a fabulous concept — a magical school within a school, a missing dad, and two super-sleuth kids, Siddy and Zadie — Erica Gomez’s School for Fireflies is delivered in a wittily lively style.
It’s also energetically characterful, as demonstrated by Zadie’s amusing, endearing quirk of speaking in punctuation — “Ampersand” when she needs more info, “EXCLAMATION MARK” when something weird or funny happens, “Question mark” when she needs more answers.
More answers are definitely needed when the friends’ everyday life of school and listening to detective podcasts is interrupted by the appearance of flickering fireflies. Turns out, they’ve been called up to a secret magical school within a normal school. While crafting their magical skills, they uncover a mystery that sees them muster their detective skills like never before.
With high-stakes edge provided by the promise that they might just find out why Siddy’s dad disappeared, School for Fireflies combines the intrigue of a classic mystery story with contemporary sass and age-old magic to terrific effect.
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