Smoke & Mirrors (Barry Jonsberg, A&U Children’s)
High-school student Grace is a whiz at magic—or she tries to be. Since learning an array of magic tricks and pranks from her no-good Uncle Mike as a little girl, she spends all her downtime perfecting her tricks, trading barbs with spicy-tongued Gran, avoiding the impacts of her mother’s alcoholism, and being plagued by nightly dreams of a past tragic accident. But then Grace meets Simon, who swears he can make her dreams of becoming a full-fledged magician a reality—using TikTok. Grace must drop the bravado of her façade, relinquish sarcasm and wit as weapons, let other people into her bubble, and confront the trauma of her past. Barry Jonsberg’s Smoke & Mirrors is full of frank humour, biting wit, magic, and social media. Gran is sure to be a fan-favourite character as she’s filthy and feisty (though she can feel too over the top, bordering on unrealistic, like a ‘sassy old lady’ trope, rather than a three-dimensional person). Grace is a complex character, and Jonsberg succeeds in crafting her to resonate with the readership; yet, like Gran, Grace may come across as unrealistic, bearing traces of the ‘wise beyond her years’ literary trope. Nonetheless, readers aged 12–14 will lap this story up. Mature themes do feature (death, alcoholism and illness), but Jonsberg creates a well-paced, heartwarming and compassionate read, caring for his characters and thus caring for his readers, who will wildly enjoy this book.
Books+Publishing reviewer: Brenton Cullen is a Queensland-based writer and reviewer with 10 years' experience working in bookshops. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews
