MAGPIE GABBARD AND THE QUEST FOR THE BURIED MOON
by Sally M. Keehn
Philomel Books
ISBN-10: 0399243402
ISBN-13: 9780399243400
Ages 8-12
208 pages

It's her 13th birthday, and Margaret "Magpie" Gabbard is just waiting for the magic to begin. Her Big Mama always told Magpie that on a girl's 13th birthday, the "gate between her being a real child and a woman," she'd be able to use magic sparkles to get her whatever her heart desires. Big Mama hopes Magpie will use her newfound magic to find herself a beau; Magpie, on the other hand, has a very different idea.

Her plan? To find her missing brother Milo, currently trapped in the woods of Purgatory, Kentucky, and return his severed foot to him so that he can head to High Jerusalem, where he's been called. There are plenty of complications in her past, though, including her mean brother Randall, a horde of evil Goblins, the mysterious disappearance of the moon, and those pernicious Sizemores, the Gabbards' low-down rivals who live down the mountain.

Magpie will need plenty of gumption --- and lots of help --- to fulfill her destiny, save the moon and return Milo's foot. Aided by a disembodied head, Granny Goforth's prophesying kettle, a boar named Wild Bill and maybe even those dastardly Sizemores, Magpie discovers that she just might have a little magic in her after all.

Set in Kentucky in 1872, MAGPIE GABBARD cements Sally M. Keehn's reputation (as demonstrated with her earlier GNAT STOKES AND THE FOGGY BOTTOM SWAMP QUEEN) as a first-class chronicler of down-home folklore. Keehn combines real folk elements from American and British lore with her keen ear for Appalachian colloquialisms. The result is a uniquely American fantasy story, a welcome alternative to Anglocentric children's fantasy novels that seem to dominate the market.

Probably the best way to really enjoy Keehn's old-fashioned storytelling style is in an old-fashioned way --- by reading aloud with your family. So put on a southern twang, have some of Grandpa Gabbard's honey and share this funny fantasy with your kin.

    --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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