Review Detail

Race to the Magic Mountain: A Branches Book (Kwame's Magic Quest #2)

Kids Fiction 51

Magical Academy Adventure

November 11, 2024

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

After Kwame enters the Nkonyaa School in Rise of the Green Flame, he has to deal with two powerful calabashes being stolen by another student, Fifi. This causes many problems. In this book, only he can save the world from falling apart. He must get to the mountain and stop the green flame from casting a spell, and return the calabashes to the school. His teacher puts him in a time loop so he can get training done quickly, and then he is off with Esi, a Sun Wielder, and Papa Kow, a Weather Handler, to try to find Fifi and stop the world from ending. They have to deal with traveling underwater and meeting Mami Wata, answering riddles, and generally having rousing fantasty adventures.

Good Points

This is a nicely illustrated early chapter book that fills a much needed lack of adventure titles for elementary readers in grades 2-4, when students are often attempting to read the Harry Potter books before they are really ready. My hesitation in giving this to emergent older readers is that the characters are given "magic cheetah balls" to chew that turn them in to cheetahs so they can travel quickly. Middle school students would have entirely too much fun with that.

This was reminiscent of Blackwood's Race to Fire Mountain, with some similarities to other magical academy books, with a sorting tree choosing the students' calabashes and different courses of magical study. Readers who enjoyed the Disaster Squad branches series by Rajan and Lovett or Patton's Battle Bugs will also be excited to find another easy-to-read adventure title.