Review Detail

Grace Woollyhop's Musical Mystery (Magic Animal Friends #12)

Middle Grade Fiction 175

Magical knitting and singing

June 16, 2016 (Updated: June 29, 2026)

Overall rating

3.0

Plot

3.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

3.0

In the middle of knitting blankets for the animals in the animal sanctuary, Jess and Lily are taken to Friendship Forest. Their escort, Goldie, has lost her trademark scarf. It was stolen and used to wipe up slime; a clear indication that evil is afoot and Gizelda's henchmen are up to no good! When the group goes to the Woollyhop shop to get a new scarf for the cat, they meet Grace, but she soon falls prey to an evil spell cast by Hopper the Toad. Soon, Grace is making a mess of the yarn, and the hunt begins for all of her favorite things. Friendship Forest is hosting a concert in which Grace is supposed to play the tambourine, but the secret that is uncovered is that she also sings very well. Since her favorite place is with her group, getting ready to perform, it's easy to undo the spell so that Grace doesn't become a toad and the concert can go on as planned.

Good Points

I liked the fact that Jess and Lily spent a little more time taking care of animals back in the real world and wish that brief instruction about knitting would have been included. This would be an excellent opportunity to get a young reader interested in fiber arts.

Grace's friends in the choir are understandably upset when their secret is discovered, since they wanted their performance to be a surprise. Since this series does talk a lot about finding out the secrets of others, it is good that there is always some discussion about when it is appropriate to tell someone's secret. If the person is in danger of becoming a toad unless the secret is revealed, always tell!

Adorable talking animals who have adventures is a hallmark of this series, which I can see being popular with readers who liked Soderberg's Puppy Pirates books. Since there is also a mystery to be solved in every book, readers who enjoyed Mlynowski Whatever After series could be tempted by these titles as well.