Cover Image: Spell Sweeper

Spell Sweeper

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Member Reviews

Dive into the enchanting world of _Spell Sweeper_, a middle-grade urban fantasy book that follows the adventures of Cara Dean Moone. After flunking her wizarding exams, Cara lands in the M.O.P. program, where she cleans up spell dust left by other wizards to prevent dangerous situations. But when things start to go awry, Cara suspects there's more at play than just dust. Could the school's "Chosen One," Harlee Wu, be the cause of the rifts in magic? The journey to save the world is full of twists and turns, as Cara discovers her own unique kind of wizardry.

The book is a delightful escape, with vivid descriptions of Cara's magical abilities and her journey to overcome feelings of inadequacy. The mix of classroom and field trips adds an extra layer of excitement to the story, showcasing Cara's impressive problem-solving skills. And the surprise twists and reveals at the end leave the reader wanting more. Here's hoping for a sequel to continue following Cara's thrilling escapades!

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I adored this title! I found the main character to be very believable (even in a fantasy) and loved her development from start to finish. This book made a beautiful addition to my classroom library and I was happy to purchase a copy after reading the ARC. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a chance to read and review it!

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Thank you to Harper Audio for providing me with a voice galley of Spell Sweeper!

I really have nothing to say about Spell Sweeper besides that it was cute & I would have absolutely loved this as a kid, so I definitely recommend it for middle grader lovers & children + pre-teens!

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Thank you Netgalley for letting me listen to this audiobook and review it. I enjoyed the narrator and the storyline. The characters were fun to follow.

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Such a cute book with fun characters! I found myself laughing quite a bit and just feel this is such a nice middle grade palate cleanser to read when you just need a pick me up tale. Would recommend for middle grade fans and wizard school books!

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My Thoughts:

Truth be told, I was too late to request this ARC from Net Galley as an ebook. The only option I had was to grab the audiobook version, however, this is not a preview of the audio book. Instead this is a Voice Galley which means that the book is read by a synthetic voice only for review use. I already have a hard time carving time for audiobooks, so this method of listening to a synthetic voice is definitely NOT my cup of tea. At least I tried. But I will never do that again.

STILL, I wanted to read this book because look at the cover and read the description from the publisher. This is right up my alley and I know many middle grade fantasy readers will love this so on the cover and the description alone, I stuck it out with robot voice. Making the recording go faster or slower did not help either, but Iʻm sure the real audiobook is fabulous because this is a fun story. Cara Moone (love her name) has attitude galore. She reminds me of Pippi Longstocking or Anne of Green Gables but with more sass. Cara's life is not fair and I did not come to a satisfying end, but perhaps there is more to come. I hope to see Cara older, a little more self reflective, but that does not come until high school and beyond.

From the Publisher:
Fans of Nevermoor and the School for Good and Evil will love this standalone middle grade fantasy featuring a failed young wizard and her chaotically fun cleanup crew.

Cara Moone is a wizard—and she’s basically flunked out of wizard school. Now she’s in training to be a MOP, a.k.a. Magical Occurrence Purger, a.k.a. it’s Cara’s job to sweep up the hazardous dust a real wizard’s spells leave behind.

A real wizard, that is, like Harlee Wu, the so-called “Chosen One” destined to save the magical world. But when one of Harlee’s spells goes awry and leaves behind a rift in the fabric of magic itself, it'll take more than magic to clean up that mess. Luckily, messes are kind of Cara’s thing.

Packed with humor, adventure, and attitude, Lee Edward Födi’s twist on a school of magic is delightfully dysfunctional and fantastically fun.

Author: Lee Edward Födi

Publisher: Harper

Publication Date November 30, 2021

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Delightful middle grade fantasy with a unique take on wizarding schools. Cara Moone is thrilled to be accepted to Dragonsong Academy, but soon discovers that she has nearly zero magical talent. Her one skill relegates her to the very bottom of the academy hierarchy, to be a Magical Occurrence Purger (MOP). Unhappy in her role, she sulks as she goes about her duties and flaunts the rules, until she comes across a strange kind of magical mess. Unfortunately, her attitude and lack of aptitude ensures no one believes her. But that won't stop her from discovering the magical world's darker secrets. Set in the Pacific Northwest and full of lively characters and adventures. Highly recommended for ages 10 and up.

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We don't often wonder about the infrastructure in a world with magic. Fodi wants us to consider it and the inherent social stratification. It's present from the very beginning of this story. We also see how that stratification can warp a person and invite them to take chances. Plenty of different magical creatures present here to keep us interested as well as the constant threat of chaos and danger. We even get an explanation of how magic might work. While it's a bit predictable it's ultimately quite readable and will hold solid appeal for young readers.

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Spell sweeper is the perfect amalgamation of Harry Potter and Worst Witch. There’s the magic school, the secret magic the normal society can’t know about. There’s even the non-magical society that the magical call Bliss: as in ignorance is bliss! Cara is a young witch who happens to come from a bliss family and she can’t let anybody know that she’s magical. However at magic school she learns that she may be magical but just barely. Her magic is good enough to be the janitor. In this magical world all magic has repercussions and if these are not cleaned up it can cause disasters. So if you don’t have someone trained as a spell sweeper the Bliss are going to learn about magic one way or another. We follow Cara as she comes to term with being a Magical Occurrence Purger (aka MOP) and learns that her sister knows more than she ever let on. This book is both a great thriller, a magic story, and a family story. It gives you everything readers of Harry Potter want without letting a person who doesn’t believe in all people profit from her fandom. Spell Sweeper was so magical that I want more books in this land and I think movies and TV shows would be absolutely great. It seems like a series that could do well on Disney+ if they gave it a chance. I was so watch it and champion it. This is a magic people can believe in and this is the magic people should believe in.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advanced reader's copy of the audiobook.

Magic is messy, someone has to clean it up. This cute story features Cara Moone, a girl chosen to go to a secret wizard school. She is considered a "Bliss," which means she comes from a non-wizard family. Since she isn't from a magical family she isn't able to perform real spells, just clean up the magic dust left behind from other wizards.

There is of course a protagonist that everyone else just loves, Harlee. Harlee can do no wrong, and is the chosen one to save the magical world, according to prophecy. Cara and Harlee do not get along.

When trouble strikes, and magic must be saved, Cara and Marlee must team up despite their differences.

This tale also has some good morals: "don't judge others based off of rumors", as well as, "those you love can also hurt you."

Spell Sweeper is super cute. The cover is cute, the characters are cute, and the storyline just grabs you. I love that the main character has a non-human sidekick. Multiple tails for the win.

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Book 70 for 2022! 5/5 stars for this middle grade fantasy! This is the anti-chosen one trope if that were a thing lol In a world where wizards leave behind magic goop after every spell, you gotta have a spell sweeper! That's where our team of MOPs comes in! Really fun read! We get a talking white fox! Magic school! What else could ya want? Love the cover so much! Narration was great!

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I don't want to say this book was like a version of Harry Potter because Harry Potter was not completely original. I do want to say it reminds me of other magical school books, like The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart or Mary and the Witch's Flower (the anime movie version of The Little Broomstick). I loved how there was a chosen one in this story and I loved the twists the tale includes. I also like that the wizards in question actually use brooms the way they were meant to be used. It's part mystery, part fantasy, and I absolutely love the main character's pet that she adopts and its abilities.

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I received a copy from NetGalley for an honest review.
This was such a cute middle grade magical adventure. This book follows failed wizard Cara Moone as she navigates school at Dragonsong Academy. As a failed wizard Cara has been relegated to becoming a MOP, or Magical Occurrence Purger. Not satisfied with her roll, she dreams of being a true wizard. However once her rival, Harlee Wu, has a spell go wrong it’s up to Cara and her friends to fix the problem. This leads Cara and her fellow MOPs on a quest to defeat a mysterious group trying to give magical powers to humans.
The main character has lots of sass, that sometimes gets her in trouble. With magical creatures, a magical school, and lots of adventure this is sure to be a hit for young readers. This was a fun read and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a quick magical read.

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I was so mad to learn that this was a stand-alone because I genuinely loved this! I wanted more! It was such a clever take on the magical boarding school. It was fresh and different and didn’t shy away from the idea of the real world, which I really liked. I thought it was dark, but funny, but also really focused on what it’s like to BE that age. I think that can be lost in a lot of these stories and that should be a focal point. Her issues with being a sweeper and with Harley can’t just be, well, SWEPT under the rug as a lesser storyline, and Harley’s fears are also super valid! And more familiars, please.

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This was a voicegalley of Spell Sweeper, so I cannot comment on the narration of the finished product.

The book was great! I love that Spell Sweepers are a thing and that wizard's spells leave behind magic dust that needs to be cleaned properly or dastardly things could happen. I truly hope this will become a series, I would love to see more of Cara's adventures as a MOP.

Highly recommend.

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What a charming addition to the fantasy genre. In Spell Sweeper, Cara had been excited to attend Dragonsong Academy, but it isn't going so well. She is stuck cleaning up after spells and unable to study to be a wizard. But, when she discovers breaks in the magic field, she needs to work with the alpha in the school, Harlee Wu, in order to save wizards. This books does of fabulous job of combining an imaginative world with the real life challenges that Cara and Harlee have to navigate.

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This was an absolutely magical and adorably written middle grade novel. I can't wait to share this with all my teacher friends and with my own middle grade readers.

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What happens when you're not the Chosen one in the story, but the one who cleans up after them? Our heroine and her friends are the ones who keep the magic contained so it doesn't leak out into the world. This is a great story of friendship and finding the way to become the hero.
Excellent book! Well written and great for middle school kids.
Thank you #netgalley for letting me read this book. #spellsweeper.

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A solid Middle Grade adventure. I enjoyed the interplay of upside down tropes of magical schools and hidden societies.

The protagonist has a clear, mostly enjoyable voice, but her obsessive behavior can be irritating at best and worrying at worst. The ending was satisfying but felt like it came too late. So much time is spent for the main character to realize there are other ways to view the world than hers.

I did appreciate that in the end, The Chosen One was going to save the world through civic engagement rather than physical (or even magical) strength.

A good fit for young fans of The Owl House and, obviously, Harry Potter.

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Thank you to Netgalley, Lee, and HarperCollins for a voice galley of Spell Sweeper.

Cara Moone just does not fit in. She attends a wizarding school, which should be super cool, but instead after failing her sixth-grade tests, she’s been reduced to training for a life in the magical janitorial arts. Although there’s nothing wrong with being a MOP (Magical Occurrence Purger), it is far from the life she imagined for herself. What’s worse is seeing her archnemesis Harlee Wu excelling at everything. But, when Harlee’s magic starts to leave behind something suspicious, everyone will learn that even the most ‘insignificant’ witch or wizard can make a difference.

I am not a big fan of middle grade, but I thought this was great. The humor will land with both kids and adults, the author pokes fun at all of the magical tropes in lovely and fun ways. Cara is a fantastic underdog that you can’t help but root for. The entire cast of characters were quirky and enjoyable.

I love middle grade stories that send the message that you don’t have to stand out to be a star. It’s such an important lesson to learn at that age, and when a book can subtly work that into an entertaining story, it’s that much better. I would 100% read more of Lee’s middle grade books.

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