Magical school stories have been around for a long, long time. They didn’t start with Harry Potter (Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic books and Diane Duane’s Young Wizards both come to mind), and they certainly didn’t end there either (Percy Jackson, Children of the Red King, all the books I’m going to talk about today, and so so many more). . I think these books are so popular because school and the experiences we have at school can be so universal, so what better way to connect with kids and explore the possibility of a magical world. In the last few years, I have read a number of new magical school books and absolutely loved them, and since I hope to write a magical school story of my own someday, I thought it might be fun to pick apart what all these books are doing that’s similar to each other and what each is doing that is unique. So buckle up. This post is going to get long, but hopefully fun.
First, I want to note that I will be talking about Harry Potter in this post. I absolutely do not condone J. K. Rowling’s bigotry, but it would be weird to write a whole post about magical school stories without mentioning Harry Potter and the impact its had on the subgenre. It’s also such a huge cultural touchstone, even now. You might not have read any of the new books I’m talking about today, but odds are you know something about Harry Potter. So I’m not going to dwell, but I am going to talk about it. Onward!
When I say a magical school book, I mean a book where the main character receives a magical education. Many of these books involve the main character discovering a magical world hidden within their own everyday world. Many of these books also involve the main character leaving home to receive their magical education. There are books where the main character already knows or is already part of the magical world in some way before beginning their magical education, and there are also books where the main character doesn’t leave home. In the Children of the Red King series, Charlie Bone knows of the existence of the magical powers that some people have (including his formidable grandmother and great-aunts), and when Charlie goes off to Bloor’s Academy to begin his magical education, he still goes home on the weekends. In The Marvellers, Ella is already well aware of Marveller society and can’t wait to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, and in Witchlings, Seven never leaves home because her education and adventures occur right in her community. Finally, sometimes magical education books don’t take place during the school year but instead during summer camps (Percy Jackson and Amari and the Night Brothers both are primarily set during summer camps where the kids receive their magical education).
Now that we’ve talked about what a magical school book generally is, let’s talk about the five magical school books I’ve lined up for this post.
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend: Morrigan is a cursed child, destined to bring bad luck and misfortune to everyone she comes into contact with and then to die on the last night of the age. Except then an eccentric redhaired man named Jupiter North appears, mere moments before her death, and proposes an alternative: Morrigan can live. She can live and try out to enter the Wundrous Society in the city of Nevermoor. Morrigan has never heard of Nevermoor or the Wundrous Society, but she doesn’t want to die. So she goes with Jupiter, narrowly escaping her own death and entering the fantastical world of Nevermoor, where she’ll befriend giant talking cats and dragon riders, leap off hotel roofs with only an umbrella to break her fall, and face a series of challenging and terrifying trials to join the Wundrous Society. If Morrigan makes it into the Wundrous Society, she’ll have a place where she belongs, a real family, for the first time in her whole life. If she fails the trials, she’ll have to return to her parents’ home, where the death of a cursed child lies in wait for her.
There’s so much more good stuff in this book, and I don’t want to spoil it, but this series has rapidly risen to be one of my all time favorites. I love the unique, intricate, and incredibly fantastical world building. I love all the characters, who are so vivid. I love the heart in this book. I have been dying for the fourth book for months, and I still have months to go. If you haven’t read the Nevermoor books yet, you really have to.
Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston: Amari’s older brother is missing, and no one will do anything about it. The police insist he must have been into something illegal, but Amari is certain there’s more to it. Then hse finds a ticking briefcase in her brother’s room addressed to her. Amari’s brother has nominated her to join the secret Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Amari is certain this bureau has something to do with his disappearance, but to dig deeper into what h appened to her brother, Amari will have to pass three trials to be accepted into the bureau. She has a lot to learn: mermaids, yettis, dwarves, and magicians are all real and the labyrinthine layout and methods of the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs for starters. It doesn’t help that Amari is competing with wealthy kids who have known about the supernatural world their entire lives to get into the Bureau and discover its secrets. To make matters worse, everyone has a talent that is enhanced to a supernatural ability, and it turns out that Amari’s talent is illegal in the supernatural world.
I adore Amari’s voice in this book, and the deeply personal struggle she faces. The world is also really fun, and Amari makes so many great friends. The second book is just as fantastic, and I can’t wait for the third book to come out.The themes of class and racial inequality the book explores are also really important and well-done. This is another series that I wholeheartedly recommend.
The Mystwick School of Musicraft by Jessica Khoury: Musical magic is one of my great loves, right up there with found family and outer space and books about books. So I was really excited about Mystwick before I even picked it up, and it really was a great read. Amelia Jones has always dreamed of attending Mystwick, where she can learn to use her flute to create music like the mother she can’t remember. Her audition goes horrificly wrong, but a mixup with some forms lands Amelia at Mystwick, and they agree to let her stay on a trial basis. As Amelia struggles to keep up with her more advanced classmates, prepares for the audition that will decide if she can stay at Mystwick, makes friends, and contends with a ghost that seems determined to get her kicked out of school, a magical storm is brewing that not even the powerful musician instructors at the school can stop. But maybe Amelia can.
I listened to the audiobook edition, which I highly recommend, because it actually included the music the students were playing, which really added to the experience in my opinion. But amazing audio edition aside, I really enjoyed this book. I had some issues with the way the school was run and the way lessons were taught and such, but on the whole, the book was just full of so much heart. I laughed, I cried, I got the sequel the minute it came out and then life happened and I haven’t read it yet but I can’t wait.
The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton: The Arcanum Training Institute is a magical training school in the sky, but until now conjurors have never been allowed to attend, because their magic is seen as dangerous and unnatural. But a new law has changed all that, and Ella Durand is going to be the first conjuror to attend the ATI. She’s eager to make a good first impression, make new friends, and learn new magic, but it’s hard to be the first, and most kids and even teachers don’t really trust Ella. She’s finally starting to make friends when a notorious criminal escapes from prison, supposedly with conjuror help, and Ella’s favorite teacher goes missing, and everyone thinks Ella is to blame.
It took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did, it was really phenomenal. The magical school was so diverse and fun. I loved all the characters. I loved the little epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter which really added to the story, and getting the point of view of the villain was super creepy. I really felt like I was piecing the mystery together along with Ella. My one big hangup with this book was that I would definitely not recommend the audiobook. I had a lot of trouble with the narrator, which is very rare for me. But on the whole, this was really great, and I’m super excited for the next book in the series to come out.
Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega: Seven is a witchling who can’t wait to be placed in the most powerful coven of Ravenskill along with her best friend and come into their power as full-fledged witches together. Seven’s friend gets their wish, but Seven is not chosen. In front of the whole town, Seven isn’t placed in any of the five covens: She’s a spare. Spare covens have fewer witches and are less powerful, and so the town generally looks down on them. Worse, Seven and the other two spares fail to seal their coven, meaning they won’t ever become full witches. Seven invokes their only option: the impossible task. Now, Seven and her two new coven sisters need to hunt down a monster that’s been terrorizing Ravenskill. If they succeed, their coven will be sealed and they’ll come into their full powers as witches. If they fail…well…the last spare coven to try an impossible task got turned into toads. Permanently.
This book was so fun. It has a really exciting adventure, but it also has really important themes about friendship and how not everything is as it seems. I love that this is a book that takes place in Seven’s hometown. Seven and her friends never leave home, and their families and the other adults in the town play a big role in the story. The fact that the kids stay home reminded me of So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane, which I also really enjoyed. It’s different from the other books I’m talking about in this post because the kids don’t go off to school or summer camp, but they’re still training to use their magic, so it made sense to include it. This is another one where I’m really excited to read the sequel.
These five are by no means the only magical school books to come out in the last few years, but these are the ones I’ve read and enjoyed and feel most qualified to talk about. And there’s lots to talk about here. (Honestly there might be too much to talk about!) I’m fascinated by the elements that all these books have in common both with each other and with older magical school books. There are also some interesting new trends I’ve noticed among these books that weren’t always present in older magical school books. And finally, each of these books brings a unique twist of their own to the magical school story.
The sorting: Every book seems to have some manner of dividing the students. This is an aspect of the magical school story that seems pretty evergreen to me. In Harry Potter, the kids were divided into houses based on their personalities. In the Charlie Bone books, the students were in music, art, or theater sections of the school, though that had little to do with the plot. In Percy Jackson, the demigods are sorted based on who their godly parent is. While the sorting continues in current books, I’ve noticed it generally has more to do with the characters’ talents and interests rather than their personality traits (Witchlings may be the exception to this). This focus on grouping characters based on their type of magic is I think partly because in a lot of these new books, everyone has different magic and everyone is learning their own magic, rather than everyone learning the same skills as in some of the older books. Nevertheless, there’s a big emphasis on sorting characters. In Amari, it’s about what talent everyone has and then which department they choose to join in the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. In Mystwick, the musicians are sorted, quite naturally, into sections. In the first Nevermoor book, there’s a huge emphasis on what knacks everyon has, particularly because Morrigan doesn’t know what hers is, and in the later books, we get the different schools within the Wundrous Society. The kids in The Marvellers are sorted into paragons of the five senses based on their individual marvel. Another interesting difference I’ve noticed is that in a couple of these books, the sorting does not occur right at the beginning of school. In both Nevermoor and Amari, the kids need to try out and be placed where they belong, and in The Marvellers the kids spend the whole school year learning how to harness their marvels and aboutall the different kinds of marvels before they discover exactly what kind of power they have.
Why has the sorting of students into different groups persisted when so many other aspects of the magical school story have changed? I think partly because in middle school, when a lot of these stories take place, kids are naturally beginning to sort themselves based on their interests and activities and making friends within those interests and activities, so this is a way of representing that. Some middle schools also group kids together so they all have classes with the same set of core teachers—my middle school called them clusters—so the sorting feels like a natural part of the school experience, made magical like everything else in the magical school story. Finally, I think it’s just plain fun. Before 2020, how many of us tied our Hogwarts house to our identity? I can just picture kids today talking about what knack or supernatural talent of marvel they would have if they could go to Nevermoor or the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs or the Arcanum Training Institute.
The special main character, with a twist: In older magical school books, the protagonist is so often special in some way, a child of prophecy or famous or well-connected. They come to school with advantages, even if they don’t want those advantages. They are well-regarded because of who they are as a symbol in the world. You get the gist. The characters in newer books are different from their peers too, but at least initially, it’s rarely in a good way. Morrigan Crow has no idea what her knack is, and if she doesn’t figure it out, she’ll be sent back home, where her death awaits. Amari is not only an outsider, poorer than the other trainees she’s competing against, and one of the only people of color, but her supernatural talent is also illegal. Amelia Jones didn’t really get into the Mystwick School of Musicraft, and the only reason she’s here is because she has the same name as a girl who died after the magical acceptance letters were sent out. Ella is the first conjuror to attend the ATI and has to face all the prejudices the Marvellers have against her and her magic. And Seven is a spare witch, so she might never come into her full powers and is generally despised by the townspeople she’s grown up with.
It makes perfect sense that the protagonist of these kinds of stories is going to be special in some way. A story about an “ordinary” kid going to magical school, learning magic and doing homework and making friends and having all the regular trials and tribulations of middle school wouldn’t be super interesting for very long, because it wouldn’t have a story. There wouldn’t be a prophecy or a mystery or an adventure or whatever that forms the backbone of these stories to draw us in. But I’m really interested in this turn that seems to have happened from older books, where the specialness of the main character was generally positive, to the books coming out in the last few years, where the main character is generally special in a negative way, at least at the start of the book. I think part of the reason this is happening is because a protagonist who comes into a situation as an underdog is someone we the readers are going to feel for and get behind naturally. So now we have a character we feel for and a compelling story that we can relate to—going to school, even to learn magic—and then we’re able to get a compelling conflict that our not-so-special main character will need to deal with. The special-in-a-bad-way protagonist is also a great way to illustrate the impact of unjust authority figures, which many of these books do quite well, which unfortunately is pretty relevant to the real world these days, so these stories can be pretty impactful in that regard as well.
The actually supportive adults: Not a ton to say here. With the exception of Mystwick, there are good adults all over the place in these books. And they aren’t just good adults. They’re supportive adults. They’re helpful adults. I love to see middle grade stories where the adults in the main character’s life aren’t dead or absent or oblivious but are instead involved in the adventure in a way that still gives the main character agency in the story. This isn’t to say that all magical school books in the past wer full of negligent adults. Charlie Bone could rely on his uncle, for example. But there are some adults who absolutely should have stepped in sooner (I’m looking at you, Dumbledore). And on the whole I think this emphasis on good adults is a really positive change. We have to remember that the main audience for these books is children, and by including adults the main characters can rely on to actually help and support them, your presenting a very different image to the intended readers of these books—children—then you would be if all the adults are useless or absent.
The diversity: There’s been a big push for more diverse books in the last few years, and these books are exemplifying that. BothMystwick and The Marvellers feature magical schools that take students from all over the world, and the protagonists of both Amari and Witchlings are people of color. Nevermoor is set in a secondary fantasy world, but still has a diverse cast of characters and deals with themes of difference and equality and respect, particularly in the third book. I’m not at all going to claim that all of these books are paragons of diversity. I think some of them are stellar and some of them could potentially do more. But compared to some older books that shall not be named where diversity went only as far as a very stereotypical made-up name, these books are a huge step in the right direction.
The fantastical world building: I’m not here to criticize the worlds of older magical school books. If you want that kind of discourse, it’s all over Twitter. But let’s be honest, the world building in these new books just blows the old ones out of the water. Magical schools in the sky? Public transit where you hook your umbrella onto a moving platform and just hang on for dear life? All the different kinds of magic you can create with a musical instrument? All the creatures from diverse myths and legends and the magic and technology we use to deal with them? All the creatures who are completely original to this world (I love you Fenestra the Magnificat!)? Need I say more? It’s just so good! I love it all!
But seriously, if you do look at some of those angry Twitter threads, I think there’s a lot of feeling that world building in older magical school books isn’t as creative or original. A lot of it comes from old myths and folklore, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think there’s a lot of eagerness for that extra twist of creativity in the worlds of these magical schools. I could be totally wrong here, but whatever the reason, this is a trend I can get behind, because it makes these books so much fun. I’ve also noticed that the world building is one of the main places where these books really demonstrate their uniqueness. Each one has its own take on the magical school and the world that school resides in. And like I said, I love it all!
The pacing: This is more something I’m interested in keeping an eye on than something I have a coherent thought or theory on at the moment. I’ve only read the first book in three of these series, and I don’t know how long those series are going to be. I’m caught up on Nevermoor, and I know Jessica Townsend is hoping it will be a nine-book series. I’m also caught up on Amari, and I’m pretty sure that’s going to be a trilogy, based on the way the plot has escalated in the first two books, but I’m not positive. All that being said, I’m thinking about the overarching plot of these series, when it is introduced, and how it progresses. I have a feeling that we’re getting the overarching plot sooner in magical school books and that it is more present in the early books in the series than the overarching plot in older series. I think that’s definitely true in the Nevermoor books so far, and I’d argue also for Amari, but I’m pretty sure that’s a shorter series so I would expect the level of overarching plot to be exactly what we’re getting. I think we got a fair amount of overarching series plot in The Marvellers, but without knowing what’s coming, I can’t say much more on that. And honestly I could only make guesses at what the overarching plot is in Witchlings and Mystwick, which isn’t a problem, just an observation. So really, I don’t have enough information to make any actual guesses on this theory, and it might turn out that I’m totally wrong. It will certainly be interesting to see though.
So what does all this mean if you want to write a magical school book? I hesitate to call anything I’ve talked about a trend in publishing or a trend in magical school books, because I’ve only talked about five book series here. But to the extent that the patterns I’ve discussed here are trends, like all trends, you shouldn’t necessarily write your book to fit that trend. If all this contemplating magical school books has illustrated anything to me, it’s that genres and subgenres change over time, and you need to read widely in your genre so you know what has been done before and what has not, as well as what the industry may have moved on from. But as always, you need to write the book you want to write, the story you feel in your heart and bones that you have to tell, because otherwise, you won’t love it. And if you don’t love it, your readers won’t love it either.
There’s almost certainly more to discuss here, but I’m going to bring this English essay (I mean blog post) to an end before it becomes even more ridiculously long. I’m really looking forward to seeing how all these series develop and reading more new magical school books to see if my thoughts hold up with a broader pool of books. If you’ve read any magical school books that have come out recently and I didn’t discuss here, I would love to hear about them. If you have read these books, I would also love to know what you thought of them and whether you agree with my analysis.
Until next time! Happy reading and writing!
I read seven books in June, the same I read in May. It was almost all sci fi and fantasy books and then one classic. The classic was a standalone, I continued two series I’m in the middle of, started two other series, and one of the books I’m not sure if it’s meant to stand alone or be the start of the series. My writing group is going to Worldcon this year, since it’s in D.C., so I also started working my way through the books that have been nominated for Hugo Awards. I’ve already read some of them—Raybearer, Legendborn, and the Murderbot series at least. Harrow the Ninth is nominated for a Hugo, and since I haven’t read the first book in the series, Gideon the Ninth, I decided I should read that first. Honestly, I couldn’t get through it. I got about a third of the way through and still had no idea what was going on, and I ended up putting it down. As you know, I don’t put books down lightly. I think I can name all the books I’ve put down ever. There might only be three. A lot of my writing group is really insisting that I give Gideon another try, and maybe I will, but we’ll see.