Review Detail

FLYING HIGH is a fun new installment in the series that follows Bea Black, a young girl who is learning to be a witch. Told through her diary entries, this story takes place in between the action, in the lead up to the big Winter Solstice celebration and related competitions. Unfortunately, when Bea takes her neighbor and good friend, Ash, to the local bakery for some cake, her frog best friend, Stan, gets out and causes a ruckus that ends with a food and snowball fight between the students at Extraordinary and the ordinary (non-magical) students at the Academy.

As word of this fight gets out, Extraordinary decides to cancel their planned games, particularly the Go matches that everyone was excited about, and instead host some shared games with the students at the Academy to promote friendship. Everyone is upset and blames Bea, so she deals with the lead-up to the new competition featuring ordinary games for which Bea, being the only student that spent her life as an ordinary, is the resident expert - while also balancing her schoolwork and friendships.

What I loved: This series features great themes that young readers can relate to about fitting in (or not), navigating friendships, making mistakes, and trying your best. Bea is a sympathetic character, and her voice comes across well in the diary form of the book. This one has a lot of information about the flying game Go as well, including some of the tricks and maneuvers they use during play. Go is the key witch game, and so, it was nice to have information about how it was played in the form of explanatory book pages and pamphlets throughout.

The illustrations included throughout add a lot of fun with expressive teachers and doodly-style details that match up with the diary format perfectly. As a diary, it includes a lot of feelings and thoughts, but it also includes dialogue and so on that help the story flow smoothly. This will work well for young elementary school readers who are gaining independence in reading.

What left me wanting more: As this is written for young elementary schoolers, the element of keeping secrets from her father (only parent) is a tough one. This may need some extra discussion about secret keeping from parents, as it comes up a lot throughout the book that she needs to not tell her father about things she is doing to keep a secret about magic that encompasses her friendships, schoolwork, etc. Additionally, this book felt like an in-between story, as it carries the reader into the semester but before the big games that it has been leading to, which will mean you need the next one handy!

Final verdict: FLYING HIGH is a fun installment in a series about learning magic, making friends, and exciting competitions. Recommend for early elementary school aged readers.