The Wishing Spell

Colfer, Chris. The Wishing Spell. Little, Brown, 2012.

Fame does not equal writing ability.

This book was written (and narrated, since I had the audio version) by Chris Colfer, who played Kurt on the show Glee. It sounded like a Fablehaven-esque story, and I was intrigued enough to give it a try. And while Colfer does an excellent job narrating the story - using different voices, etc. - the narration wasn't enough to keep me interested. The writing just isn't that good. He does a lot of telling and very little showing, and the story is peppered with gems like this: "Connor's mouth fell open like a broken glove compartment." This type of simile would be perfectly appropriate, had it come from one of my seventh grade students during our young authors contest. In the context of a published work, however ... I just wasn't impressed.

That being said, kids who enjoyed Fablehaven and have read every other fantasy book may also enjoy Colfer's work. But I wouldn't recommend it for anyone over the age of ten, and especially not for English teachers.