Member Reviews

This is the story of Maggie, a child witch, who gets a new baby brother. It is filled with loving characters and an engaging plot for early elementary readers/listeners.

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I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Maggie Sparks and the Monster Baby is the first book in a middle grade series for children filled with fun, magic, and adorable illustrations throughout.
Maggie is at home waiting anxiously for her mum and dad to return home from the hospital with her new baby brother. But Maggie doesn't want a baby brother - they smell, are noise makers, and hog all the attention. With her adorable pet chameleon Bat, Maggie sets out to win her parents back from her 'Monster Baby' brother.But Maggies magic doesn't always go as expected and she finds herself in a pickle that her baby brother ends up rescuing her from bringing them close at last.
This is a really funny book that touches on sibling jealousy, adapting to a new sibling, understanding emotions, and more. I'd say this is perfect for children 5+ and I can't wait to read it with my 4 year old granddaughter who's got a new baby brother herself as I know she will find this book hilarious!

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While this was a cute story for early readers, I did not love some of the language used. I know this happens in books, but I wouldn’t want to teach my child to call people monsters and that they are bad.

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Adorable! My 8 year old and I loved reading it. I thought the illustrations were fantastic and Maggie is a very relatable character. Adjusting to having a new baby brother is hard, even for witches! The story was very cute, and it was enjoyable to read. Great for young readers!

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I teach second grade and have had students who are going to get a new brother or sister before the end of the school year. This book is a great way to introduce the feelings they may face when a new sibling is born. There is some bathroom humor that will have second graders laughing.

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I received an electronic ARC from North Star Editions through NetGalley.
Maggie is really unhappy about having a new baby brother. She feels ignored and jealous. She uses her magic to try to become cute like the baby but things backfire and Maggie changes completely. She learns how special Alfie is when he is the one to use magic to change her back. Readers will appreciate the humor and light touch as the story unfolds. This first book in the series sets a lighter tone with underlying important life situations.

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Quick Review: An overload of magical cuteness

My Review: Maggie Sparks and the Monster Baby by Steve Smallman is book #1 in the Maggie Sparks series.

About the Book: "...Maggie's a witch. A super powerful, super smart, super talented witch ... who sometimes gets her spells wrong. But that won't stop her finding a way to win back her mum and dad from the evil monster baby."

A young witch in training has to adjust to her new baby brother. As she endeavors to find her own space in the messiness of her new life situation, she ultimately finds herself learning to embrace some valuable lessons on love and family.

My Favorite Line: "He looks like an angry potato!" 😂

My Favorite Illustration: Maggie's magic burp 😆

My Favorite Support Character: Bat (although Grandpa Sparks and Arthur are tied for second)

About the Illustrations: This book was illustrated by Esther Hernando. It was beautifully done. Her artwork perfectly captured the hijinks and shenanigans of this adorable girl and her family.

My Final Say: I 💗 Maggie Sparks!

I was first captivated by this endearing, little character back in 2022. Since then, I have been anxiously waiting for her next installments. I confess that I was not disappointed with this story. It was a hit. This sweet girl has not lost any of her spunk, any of her playfulness, or any of her appeal. I was in stitches.

Other: I predict that young readers and family groups who enjoy great read alouds will jump at the chance to meet this magical wonder.

Rating: 4.75/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: Children
Keeper: Yes
Favorites Shelf: Yes
Status/Level: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Special Note: This would be a fantastic book club read, family read aloud, family therapy read, and/or young reader's spotlight recommendation. There is so much rich material for discussion on everything from feelings and coping strategies to family dynamics and building healthy bonds.

Sincere appreciation is extended to the author, to the publisher, and to NetGalley. Thank you for granting access to a digital ARC of this title in exchange for an honest critique. It was a real pleasure to review. I am grateful for the opportunity.

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4.5 I love this series. Easy to read short chapters, the little girl is quite naughty sometimes and doesn't get embarrassed to burp or do naughty things. It's a lot from her point of view of not being the only kid in the family anymore and starting to feel invisible. The changes can be scary, and this book approaches it in a whimsical naughty way. I love the design of the pages, playing with the font design and the illustrations. My fav is still Truth Dragon, but this one was a great start to the series.

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Maggie Sparks is a young witch. She can do simple magic, but her parents keep telling her not to do it anywhere except at home, because they don’t want anyone to know they are witches.


But, like all good children’s books, Maggie’s problems are very relatable to those who don’t have any magic wands to turn them into a cute bunny to get her parents attention after they have a new baby, and spend all the time praising him for doing things like burping.


This is a very simple plot, mainly how to get her parents to notice her, and how she learns to at least like her new baby brother, even though he is stinky and smelly.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is being published on the 1st of January 2025.

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I thought that this was a fun read and a great story!

The book was easy to read and understand and it had a great natural flow to the writing style.

The words used really suit the target age range and I read this with my daughter and whilst she is too young herself to really read all of the words she loved the story itself.

It has some cracking illustrations to help bring the characters to life.

It is 4 stars from me for this one, a great start to the series and can’t wait to read the next book now – I can see this series being a big hit – highly recommended!

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Thank you so much to Jolly Fish Press and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Maggie Sparks series is so much fun to read, I’ve read a couple of them before and they were just adorable. She never really knows what her magic is going to do or be like and it tends to backfire a little, but she always gets help to fix things.

This story follows Maggie as her parents bring back her baby brother Alfie who she calls a monster, he’s loud, he’s smelly and everyone thinks he’s so adorable and gets him all the attention. She feels excluded, jealous and invisible so tries to do everything she can to get some attention back on to her.

I really enjoyed this story it was so sweet and she really had to go through a bit to understand her brother being part of her life. By being invisible she realised her mum did care about her and wanted to do something nice. I love her relationship with her grandpa, he gets her completely and is always there for her when others in her family are preoccupied.

A really fun magical story of a little witch living in the real world and having everyday struggles, but uses her magic to fix them… we’ll sort of fix them. They also come with really beautiful and fun illustrations throughout the book.

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