FOOLED

A sixth grader with cerebral palsy learns that magic takes many forms.

Though she’d rather attend a magic school, Lil Evers, who uses a motorized wheelchair and alternates between talking and using a speech device, currently attends the Exceptional Children’s class at Willow Street Middle School. There, Lil and her friends, Scoot and Dora, are segregated from the rest of the student body by the assistant principal, who disguises her ableism as concern for their safety. Undaunted, the friends create their own magic school with their imaginations. When a lucky escape from bullies sparks rumors that the role-playing trio’s magic is real, Willow Street’s students inundate Lil and her friends with good luck charm requests—and the spells seemingly work! But not everyone’s happy. Someone’s following Lil and leaving threatening notes. And in conservative, economically depressed Eden Point, North Carolina, rumors of magic—“the devil’s work”—could lead to the already struggling middle school’s closure. The mother-daughter author duo, one of whom uses a wheelchair and speech device, highlight such topics as education laws while emphasizing the importance of community and hope. Though some secondary characters feel cliched, Lil’s portrayal is refreshingly nuanced; her frustration with augmentative communication and ambivalence about transitioning to mainstreaming are sympathetic, and the bonds among her friend group are endearing. Lil and Dora read white, and Scoot is cued Black and neurodivergent.

Eye-opening and heartwarming.