A POTION, A POWDER, A LITTLE BIT OF MAGIC

Bernadette the Brave rescues her best friend, a turtle named Perseverance, in Stead’s middle-grade debut.

Exuberant wordplay and a wryly witty narrative distinguish this broadly humorous and endearing fantasy in which a young goatherd’s charges escape their servitude. Bernadette is just 6 when she’s pressed into service minding 24 goats that bear the weight of a castle and its inhabitants. Six years later, her most irascible charge, Lancelot, makes a break for freedom, and the king craves turtle stew for his feast. Bernadette sets out on the River of Uncertainty to rescue Perseverance, who’s been captured for the meal. She’s accompanied by forgetful magician Adelbert the Magnificent and travels in a boat that was once a tree with specific rules about granting wishes. The cleverly loopy structure puts five of the chapters (plus the acknowledgments and two different chapters entitled “THE END”) in unexpected places, offering well-timed introductions to the king’s minions, Bernadette, her allies, and the author, who isn’t entirely in control of his characters and has also misplaced Chapter One. Stead’s narrative voice is warm, intimate, and slightly goofy, enveloping the reader in the storytelling process. Running jokes invite giggles, homey adages are sandwiched between tiny goat silhouettes, and Latin phrases (many hilariously misused) and their translations pepper the text. Atmospheric, whimsical drawings enhance this story, which will please fans of Norton Juster and Terry Pratchett. In this world that evokes medieval Europe, characters present white.

A perfect amount of magic.