Magical Animal Adoption Agency – The Missing Magic

Kallie George's The Missing Magic is a Magical Animal Adoption Agency story for 6 year olds about a girl who has to share her favourite place with a know-it-all.

What happens

Clover volunteers at a secret agency in the Woods, looking after unicorns, fairy horses and an invisible flying puppy called Picnic. It's the best thing in her life, and she can't tell a single non-magical person about it.

Now there's Oliver Von Hoof. He's written three volumes of the Magical Animal Encyclopedia and he's only a little bit older than her. He vanishes whenever there's hard work to do. And now Mr Jams is teaching him to do adoptions, which are Clover's job!

Who hasn't felt that twinge when someone new seems to be taking your place? Clover's jealousy feels very real. She even snoops through Oliver's parcel and tries on a pretty sun necklace she finds inside. Then the clasp won't undo.

Next, a knight who's a hopeless poet turns up with a moody phoenix. It turns out Mr Jams was once a knight too (Clover had no idea). He's needed elsewhere, and the Agency is left to Clover and Oliver together.

That's when the animals start changing. Dipity, Clover's green kitten, gets a white tip to his tail. Picnic's golden paws start to show. Their magic is fading, and nobody knows why.

It's a gentle, cosy read, full of lovely made-up details. Unicorn horn polish mixed from stardust and moonbeams. A gnome who guards the gate at night. A delivery centaur called Cedric.

Clover isn't perfect, which makes her very easy to root for. She knows she shouldn't have taken the necklace, and she worries about it. For a child who's finding out that sharing can be hard, there's a lot to recognise here.

What to read next

This isn't Clover's first adventure at the Agency. To go right back to where it began, with Clover chasing her runaway canary into the Woods, try Clover's Luck.