Once a Witch

October 12, 2009
MacCullough (Drawing the Ocean) offers an absorbing and elegant urban fantasy involving magical "Talents," devious spells and family ties. When Tamsin Greene was born, her grandmother prophesied that Tam would be one of the most powerful witches in her huge and extended family. Tam's Talent was due to manifest by the time she turned eight, but at 17 she is still a dud, drifting on the outskirts of the family ("I know the looks I must be getting behind my backâthe lifted eyebrows, the overly expressive shrugs, the whispers of sympathy"). When Tam is mistaken for her older and vastly Talented sister, Rowena, Tam can't resist the chance to secretly take on the task of locating a missing clock to prove her resourcefulness and make the Greenes proud. Enlisting the help of her old friend Gabriel, Tam unwittingly sets off a chain of events that could destroy her entire family. MacCullough's writing is evocative without distracting from her story; readers will identify with Tam's desire to create a space away from parental expectations and take comfort that even extraordinary families make mistakes. Ages 12 âup.

October 1, 2009
Gr 9 Up-It's hard to be the only normal one in a family in which everyone has a Talent that allows them to do such things as disappear, control the weather, read the future, or turn people to stone. Tamsin is bitter that she does not have a magical gift and dreams of the day she can move far away. So when a mysterious Scottish stranger, Alistair, shows up at her family's bookstore and assumes that the 17-year-old is her very Talented sister, Rowena, Tamsin jumps at the chance to help him find the family heirloom for which he is searching. She enlists the help of her childhood friend, Gabriel, who has recently reappeared in her life. Tamsin and Gabriel travel through time to find what sinister Alistair wants, and in doing so they will set in motion a chain of events that could mean the destruction of her family. Although Tamsin is a well-rounded character, the other people in the book are fairly one-dimensional. What is lacking in character development, though, is made up for in plot. This is an exciting book, and readers will be captivated until the very end. With a fairly easy reading level, an exciting story, and an edgier heroine (Tamsin drinks and smokes), this book is a good choice to hand to older reluctant readers."Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2009
Grades 8-11 At Tamsins birth, her grandmother prophesied that she would be the most powerful witch of them all. At 17, however, Talentless Tamsin is the family shame, living in a New York City boarding school. Tamsin is attracted to Gabriel, a witch raised among regular people and unfamiliar with the rules, and at the request of an NYU professor, they set out to find a long-lost heirloom clock. Gabriel takes Tamsin back in time to locate the clock, and here Tamsin finally discovers her Talent: she can neutralize and gain for herself any Talent used against her. Yet, in finding the clock, Tamsin has reopened a lethal feud with dire repercussions for her older sister, set to become the family matriarch. Tamsin grows in her Talents while uncovering layers of family secrets and attempting to staunch the peril she unleashed. With the glut of contemporary romantic supernatural tales, this will be popular, but the action, drama, and great potential for compelling sequels set it apart from the crowd.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2010
Everyone else in Tamsin's family of witches has some sort of Talent. Tam has always thought she had no such magical ability, but she discovers her power after inadvertently helping an enemy. Spells, bad guys, time travel, and, you guessed it, romance make Tamsin's (modern-day) world one that readers will want to explore.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)