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Three more books are in the works.

Elevator Pitch:

Summer school in the Enchanted Forest is just like you would imagine it: chasing frogs (that are not really frogs), making new friends (with trolls), and learning what magic is (and more importantly what magic is not.)

Middle-Grade Fantasy—60,000 words

Final Cover Design for What Magic Is Not

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Full of wonder, humor, and heartwarming friendships, the story follows a class of boys and girls who attend summer school in the Enchanted Forest to learn about magic from the hermetic Professor Gnut, an old wizard with a penchant for flinging unruly students into the frog pond. Fiercely whimsical—with a splash of dark humor—What Magic Is Not revels in its ensemble cast of quirky kids who all get their turn in the spotlight (even if they have to fight for it), plenty of mischievous hijinks (from the students and the Professor), and long-lasting life lessons hidden in plain sight (like all the best magic tricks.)

This is a joyful story brimming with adventure and possibility, though it does not shy from difficult questions. And while the students rarely learn the fantastical sorts of magic spells they were hoping to, Professor Gnut always manages to open their eyes to a more valuable lesson in the end, often leaving them with philosophical head-scratchers that will have young readers ruminating long after they put the book down.

If you are a fan of the classics, you will find in What Magic Is Not strong parallels to the sidelong structure of Wayside School, echoes of the inside-out illogic in Edward Eager's Half Magic, and all due respect for the tried-and-true ethos of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. The lessons and themes are age-appropriate, with special focus on courage, accountability, selflessness, and the never-ending pursuit of real wisdom (even for old wizards.)

Elevator Pitch:

This time around, the class is bigger and so is the adventure. If the returning students (and the returning readers) thought their second semester with Professor Gnut would be anything like the first, they are in for a wild surprise.

Middle-Grade Fantasy—110,000 words

Final Cover Design for Where Magic Is Missing

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At the end of their first semester of summer school in the Enchanted Forest, Orrin asked Professor Gnut when school would start again.

“It will be here before you know it,” the old wizard replied.

And so it is—the long awaited sequel to What Magic Is Not is here at last, but if Orrin and his classmates thought their second semester would be anything like the first, they are in for a wild surprise.

This time around, the class is bigger and so is the adventure as Professor Gnut leads his students on a whirlwind road trip far from the Enchanted Forest, racing to prevent a catastrophe that could spell doom for the entire kingdom.

While the class faces greater dangers, stranger puzzles, and more confuddling philosophical conundrums than ever before, the Professor never misses an opportunity to teach his eager students not what they wish to learn, but what they need to know, and though everyone must follow their own path in the end one universal lesson prevails: where magic is missing, that is where a wizard must go.

As for Books Three, Four, and Five… why, who can say when they will be here…