Ever since my son read
The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede in 2010, he has been telling
me, “Mom, you just have to read this book – it’s so good!” With
my overflowing piles of books waiting to be read, it took me a while, but I
finally found time to read it at the end of 2012. My son was right, as usual!
It is a well-written and unique novel, a sort of combination of
Harry Potter and Little House on the Prairie that I enjoyed so much that I immediately started
reading its sequel when I finished.
Eff (don’t ever call her by her full name, Francine) was the
thirteenth child born in her family, a circumstance that is considered not only
unlucky but disastrous in her culture. Her twin brother, Lan, born just a few
minutes later, was not only the fourteenth child in the family but the seventh
son of a seventh son which makes him not just lucky but also gives him
extra-special magic powers. While her entire community discriminates against
Eff from the very start of her life, Lan is treated with reverence and even a
bit of fear.
As enticing as that beginning sounds, the setting of this
novel is even more fascinating. It is set in the United States during the time
of pioneers and western expansion, but it is an alternative history, where
magic is an integral part of everyday life. Certain facts of history are the
same as our own history but other aspects differ. For instance, there was still
a war between the states, but it was known as the Secession War, and it occurred
several decades earlier than our own Civil War.
The Great Barrier Spell protects all of the states and
territories east of the Mammoth River (aka Mississippi River) from both natural
and magical wildlife. The bears and mammoths, sphinx cats and steam dragons,
and all the other dangerous wildlife are unable to cross the barrier, allowing
people to live peacefully and without fear. But, after the war, westward expansion booms as the nation’s
need for more space grows, and more and more families join settlements west of
the Great Barrier Spell. Each settlement is required to have its own magician,
someone professionally trained to help maintain the settlement’s protection
spells.
In that setting, Eff (living in a town just east of the
Great Barrier Spell, on the edge of the western frontier) struggles to overcome
the challenge of her birth order, with her family’s support. She and Lan go to
school, become friends with their next-door neighbor, and learn magic, but Eff
is constantly worried that something terrible will happen to her or those she
loves.
This novel has everything: adventure, magic, friendship, and
family, with details of pioneer life added in. It is fast-paced and exciting
with a warmth and depth uncommon in many adventure stories. Kids that enjoyed
the Little House books or Hagrid’s Care
of Magical Creatures class in Harry Potter will especially love Eff and Lan’s world. And when you finish The
Thirteenth Child and are dying to hear more, there are two more
sequels already released to keep you reading happily.
NOTE: The Frontier Magic trilogy is officially labeled as teen fiction,
but I’m halfway through the second book and think they would be perfectly
appropriate for older middle-grade readers, too.
344
pages, Scholastic
