Review Detail

Evie Scruffypup's Big Surprise (Magic Animal Friends #10)

Middle Grade Fiction 163

Sisterly love triumphs over messy rats

June 16, 2016 (Updated: June 30, 2026)

Overall rating

3.0

Plot

3.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

3.0

While this embraces the formula of the previous book, the inclusion of Evie's sister is a nice change, and her secret shows a nice sisterly bond. I also liked that Evie is shown wearing glasses-- many young reader start wearing glasses in early elementary school, and it can be a difficult change.

The line drawings that accompany the story are quite cute, and I can see the map being used as a starting place for a recreation of Friendship Forest. It would be easy to populate this with stuffed animals and baby dolls, and hours of play could result.

For readers who enjoyed Baglio's Animal Ark Pets or have finished all of Bentley's Magic Puppy series, Magic Animal Friends books offer a familiar story line, cute animals, and friends working together to help each other and their community.

Good Points

It's Blossom Day in the Friendship Forest, and Jess and Lily are excited to join their friends for the Blossom-Drop candy hunt, but young Evie is put under a spell by Masha the Rat and is soon acting like the rat and messing everything up. Luckily, the girls have written down the spell that is used to reverse this curse, and get right to work finding Evie's favorite food, thing, place and her biggest secret. There is some trouble with this, since she loves Blossom-Drop candy and Grizelda's animals have ruined it all, but with the help of Evie's sister Hattie, they manage to take everything to Petal Dell and return Evie to her adorable puppy self before she becomes a rat permanently.