Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria

George Jreije's Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria is a funny, food-filled magic adventure for 9 year olds about a boy who finds out his family's old shop sold far more than spices.

What happens

Shad Hadid wants to be a baker. Every day after school he presses his nose against the window of the only Arabic bakery in Maine (the baker says he's bad for business). At home he does all the cooking and cleaning, because his teta, his grandmother, is too poorly to.

Then the school bully, Sarah Decker, starts pelting him with eggs. Shad squeezes down a narrow alley to hide and comes out in a secret garden full of orange and fig trees. A shadow with no face corners him there.

It's blasted away by a wild-haired old man with a belt full of pouches and a salamander on a lead. He turns out to be the grumpy baker in disguise. He's an alchemist. And, he says, so is Shad.

There's so much fun in the details. Truth Dust makes you say exactly what you're thinking (which Shad then does, to Sarah, at great length). His grandfather's stink bomb is made from dirt, salt and spit, plus the worst smell you can imagine. Shad says "holy cannoli" and calls people fig-heads. Who knew a stink bomb could count as science?

And the food! Namoura cake, baklava, tabbouleh, stuffed kousa, rice pudding with rose water and pistachios. It's hard to read without getting hungry.

There's a sad side too, and it's there from the start. Shad's baba and grandfather died in a car accident after the family moved to America, and his mum hasn't answered his calls in years. His teta is ill, and he's scared of losing her as well. These moments are handled warmly, and there's always a joke close behind.

The scene where Teta finally tells him the truth about the family shop is lovely. It sold Voice-Change Juice and Cow Dung Lotion for Rashes! And his dad's old alchemy book turns out to be one only Shad can read.

If your reader likes cooking up concoctions in the kitchen, they'll love a hero who treats a spell like a recipe.

What to read next

For an older reader who wants more alchemy, The Kingdom Over the Sea opens in the city of Zehaira, where sorcerers meet under a library dome and the Sultan's alchemists work away in the palace.