I found the characters relatable. The author transports the reader to a magical world with a diverse group of characters and a melting pot of cultures.

This a fun middle grade magical school story. I enjoyed the various kinds of magic. Clever storyline that will keep readers engaged. The characters in this story are lovable.

Fun and whimsical and magical!

A middle grade fantasy with a magical school that could be recommended to everyone. The perfect Harry Potter replacement.

Wow. The Marvellers is everything the middle grade fantasy world needed and more. Clayton has been so purposeful in her pursuit of creating an inclusive magical school and looking at what a school for global magic would look like. I highly recommend the book, and also check out her interview with We Need Diverse Books (Part 1 & Part 2) because I love listening to her speak about this passion project.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for providing the E-ARC!

I thought that this was a fantastic book for people who are fans of Harry Potter and Amari and the Night Brothers. I think we’re always looking for the best, current reads and I thought that the world-building was great. In my opinion, I thought that it got slow in the middle, but right at the end, it picked up!

The diversity is everything that I wished was in Harry Potter, and fully reading all of the books that I wished I had when I was younger.

The Marvellers is a middle grade fantasy that will appeal to fans of Amari and the Night Brothers, Nevermoor, and the like. Set in a magical school, there is a classic good vs. evil trope that sets the stage for sequels. Recommended for elementary and middle school libraries; the audiobook is not worth purchasing, though, as the narrator mispronounces many common words and has a annoying voice for young characters.

This will be a must read and purchase for my middle grade readers. Clayton did an excellent job with the world building. You get enough information to setup the story without the information being overwhelming. Ella and her friends are well developed characters that reads can easily connect to. Thank you for the advanced copy.

4.5
I adored this inclusive magical school! Clayton managed to weave in metaphors and innuendos that resonate. Ella and her sidekicks are likeable characters and the addition of many kidlit author names sprinkled throughout are fun "Easter eggs" for readers. Can't wait for book 2!

Ella Durand comes from a prominent New Orleans family of Conjurors and although she is only 11-years-old, she is about to make history. She will be the first Conjuror to enter the Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous and Uncanny Endeavors and Ella is beyond excited about it, even if her mother isn't. And she isn't the only one not happy about Ella attending this school. Once Ella arrives, she finds she has three roomates, two of which believe Conjurors don't belong in the school and only one of which is even remotely friendly. She is also assigned a mentor, Masterji Thakur, who will help her learn the Marvellian Way, and a guide, Jason Eugene, the youngest of an illustrious Marvelling family and the youngest of four siblings in the school. At first, Ella rejects Jason's help, determined to do everything on her own as part of her need to prove that she belongs.

The first thing that happens is that Ella is moved from her dorm with three roomates to one she will share with unfriendly Brigit Ebsen from New York City. Unlike Ella, Brigit does not want to be in the Arcanum Training Institute and plans on running away as soon as she can. Brigit also continuously knits images onto squares, but doesn't know why, who the images are, and seems to go into a trance when she is knitting.

It's not just students who don't want Ella at their school, some of the teachers feel the same way and she begins to get demerits for things she hasn't done. But, little by little, she and Brigit become friends, and Ella warms up to Jason enough to call him friend too. But when a prisoner, Gia Trivelino, who calls herself the Ace of Anarchy, escapes from the Cards of Deadly Fate, a prison made out of powerful conjure cards and then Masterji Thakur disappears, students and teachers are quick to point their finger at Ella. All the while, Ella keep wondering just what her Marvel is.

Marvels are a light within a person that is strongly linked to one of five Paragons. Paragons are similar to the five senses (vision, touch, sound, taste, smell) except smell has been replaced by spirit. At the end of the school year, there is an exam where kids find out their Paragon. Since all of the kids who are in Ella's class come from Marvelling families, they already have an idea of what their Paragon will be, with the exception of Ella and Brigit. I found myself wondering just what Ella's Paragon would be that would really work for a series. Then I thought, duh, she has at least two friends who can help with their Paragons. And then it occurred to me that wondering what will happen is part of the fun of reading The Marvellers.

And there is a lot of fun stuff in this book because Clayton's worldbuilding is just so wonderfully imaginative. Sure, some of it may remind you of Harry Potter, but there is just so much originality that the comparisons fall away quickly until you are only left with one - they are both fantastic school stories. And astute readers will definitely chuckle at the names of some of the teachers in Ella's school.

But don't get me wrong, there is plenty of serious stuff going on. Ella is marginalized right off the bat when she must change rooms and live with Brigit, the other marginalized student. And with marginalization, comes bullying by students and collecting demerits because Conjurors are not welcomed by every teacher in the school.

I have to admit when I first began reading The Marvellers, I had a hard time getting into it, but after a few pages, I was totally hooked. And I could go on and on about how great it is because there is just so much to this story, but maybe you should just read the book. It is well worth your time. Maybe I'll reread it.

Obviously, this was written as a book to replace Harry Potter, but I think it did a really good job of creating an interesting, thought-through magic system. The metaphor for racism and the actual racism in this book actually served the plot. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Received an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Marvellers follows Ella, the first conjurer admitted to the Arcanum Training Institute where Marvellers from around the world are trained in their special skills. However fitting in at this new school is not as easy as Ella expects. Conjurer skills are viewed as being dark versus the bright magic of the Marvellers and whispers of the Aces follow her around. And when a dangerous criminal escapes from prison and a conjurer’s help is suspected, Ella finds herself amid rumors and suspicion.

This book didn’t fully work for me, but it will probably work well for others. I like my books set at school to feature lots of classroom scenes, students doing homework, learning things, etc. Other people may view them as slow. But for me, it is hard to love a book set at school when it doesn’t feel set at school. There were only three classroom scenes!

The book has a lot of diversity, which was great. It also set up mystery and intrigue for future books, which makes me hope future books in this series will hold my attention better.

Overall I would recommend this book for intermediate and middle school classrooms.

The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton; Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 416 pages ($16.99) Ages 9 to 12.

...

A 300-year-old magic school in the clouds is forced to admit 11-year-old Ella Durand, who hails from the Conjuror magic tradition of slave descendants in the Deep South, after her father files a lawsuit in this dazzling middle grade debut, the launch of a new series by acclaimed author Dhonielle Clayton.

While Ella is thrilled to be the first Conjuror pupil attending the Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous and Uncanny Endeavors, she is shocked at the nasty whispers, ugly rumors and outright hostility she faces from her roommates, other classmates and staff.

She finds allies in her kindly mentor, Masterji Thakur, and in two classmates: Brigit, a white girl who has grown up in New York City outside the Marvellers tradition, and Jason, who has "thick locs and deep brown skin" and is the youngest of a legendary Marvellers family. When Masterji Thakur fails to return from a trip, Ella breaks all the rules to try to find him.

The Arcanum world is crafted with wonderful detail. Communication is by Starpost. Students travel to the Stardust Pier in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with passage by sky ferry to the school. "The first sky-ferries sliced through the clouds, their brass noses radiating like suns... Engines blazed bright with stars spinning in their gilded spheres. Ella thought it was almost as if a pod of whales had taken flight after strapping enormous glass carriages to their stomachs."

The beautifully written narrative is rich in humor. "Her family couldn't go anywhere without being stopped, having to talk to so and so, or get hemmed up into having iced tea and pound cake on somebody's porch." Ella packs a pair of braid hands, a wax copy of her mother's hands with spells to braid her favorite styles. "I won't have my baby so far away with her head looking a mess." Her mother's animal soulmate is a 12-foot alligator named Gumbo.

The narrative shifts between the action at Arcanum and an archvillain's daring escape from prison inside a deck of cards suspended in the middle of time. There are also Arcanum official pronouncements (including the "Conjure edict," granting Conjure folk citizenship and ending the "conjure codes") and Starpost correspondence. Sprinkled throughout are homages to fellow children's authors including Laura Ruby and Anne Ursu.

Clayton, chief operating officer of We Need Diverse Books, offers marvelous world building, memorable characters and a thrilling plot involving a terrifying villain in this extraordinary fantasy strengthened by its realistic backdrop of racial oppression and discrimination.

In this haunting passage, Ella's godmother tries to calm her fears about an anonymous letter suggesting she has "bad light" inside her. "They try to label us. Try to make us ashamed. When we were enslaved, our talents and skill adapted under brutal torture and after freedom, there was more terror. Enduring that leaves a mark. Conjure is a bittersweet cross between rage and hope, but yet still full of love. ... A bruised fruit is still sweet, baby."

I absolutely LOVED The Marvellers! The diversity in this magic school is what the Wizzarding World has been missing! I also love the inclusion and social justice that was presented in this first book. The plot did not disappoint, as I am very curious with how the series will play out! Amazing middle grade book!

A fantastic launch of a new middle grade fantasy series. Stellar writing and world building. Can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title.

This was a perfect middle grade read, and I hope there is a sequel. It does give a bit of Harry Potter vibes, but in a more socially conscious way. The parallels to segregation, racism, corrupt criminal justice systems, etc. are absolutely present but written in a way for middle graders to understand from their perspectives.

Ella is a phenomenal main character whose curiosity not only helps her discover more about this new world she was thrust into, but it also guides the reader through the world as well. I thought this was masterfully done by Clayton.

I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars for a couple of reasons. I am still a bit confused about the character of Gia - I'm sure this will be explained if there are future books, but I spent a lot of time with predictions about her character that turned out to be, almost certainly, untrue. I also struggled with some of the magical items or people in the story and not really understanding what they were - perhaps more of a "me" problem than a problem with the world-building.

Overall, I enjoyed this one, and I hope there are more stories to come from this world.

The Marvellers is everything I love about contemporary fantasy done to perfection. Rich world building ✓ Complex characters ✓ Adorable creatures ✓

And of course a protagonist who takes on the power systems while discovering their own powers along the way. Eleven year old Ella Durand comes from a long line of Conjurors. But her family's type of magic is considered bad and unnatural by the Marvellians who dominate the magical world. With her admission to the Marvellers Arcanum Training Institute Ella has the chance to prove that Conjurors deserve the same recognition as Marvellers.

It's not easy, many students and staff are determined to see Ella thrown out. After her mentor goes missing and a dangerous Marveller criminal breaks out of prison Ella and her friends are swept up in a dangerous mission to discover the truth and save her mentor before it's too late.

This is an absolutely delightful middle grade book about a global magic school. The characters, magic system and storylines were all so vibrant and interesting! I loved Amari and the Night Brothers and I loved this one just as much! My student is studying Geography this year and I think this will be a fun, fiction addition!

This is a PERFECT readalike for kids who want more of The Book Series that Shall Not be Named but are starting to develop better taste. :P It’s a magic school boarding book that features Marvellers from around the world and the main character is a misfit even in her own world. Some interesting divergences from The Series that Shall Not Be Named include not being sorted into houses until the end of your first year, multiculturalism, and adults who are smart and who care about kids! Also, taking a page from dark academia, there are secrets everywhere about everything. I’m really excited to see where this middle grade series goes - it’s absolutely going to become a staple in every library. Five stars.

This is the ethnically inclusive magical school I've been dreaming of since I was little!! There are so many scenes throughout the book that draw influence from all over the world and made for such an exciting setting. One of my favorites was the Jollof rice scene between students from different African nations. I also love that there are so many different types of magic and that students get to learn about each region during the classes.

Ella is such a sweet girl and surrounded by supportive adults in New Orleans who are all concerned for her well-being as she heads to a school that has historically been closed to conjurers like them. I knew that this book would likely reference our history of desegregation in the United States but this was a much larger part of the story than I expected. Children reading this book may or may not have already learned about the Civil Rights movement and desegregation in schools but this story can make it much easier for them to understand and empathize with. I think that the nonfiction stories about that era can often seem too far removed for students to really understand the gravity of it all and what it must have felt like for the young people being tasked with integrating their local schools.

There's also a bit of discussion around the ways in which many Black folks from Africa, South America, and the Caribbean also have misconceptions of African Americans and tend to try to separate themselves from us. This is an issue because of the white supremacist propaganda that pits people of the African diaspora against one another.

This was a truly captivating book and I'm looking forward to the next one!!!

This was a refreshing new series that Harry Potter fans will devour. I loved the nod to other middle grade authors in the naming of the school's professors. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.