The Midnight Orchestra

Jessica Khoury's The Midnight Orchestra is a magic school story for 9 year olds where every spell is played on an instrument and one girl can write brand new ones.

What happens

Amelia Jones plays the flute at the Mystwick School of Musicraft. Here, music really is magic, and every spell even has its own smell (lemon zest for one duet, cinnamon for another). Amelia is also a Composer, which means she can create spells nobody has played before. She's the only one at the school who can.

This is the second Mystwick book. It opens just after one of her spells let a horde of ghosts loose on the school, and your reader will pick up what happened as they go.

Things have only just settled down when a long, sleek limousine teleports up the drive. Out steps the other Amelia Jones. This one is rich, famous and supposed to be dead. It was her letter from Mystwick that reached our Amelia by mistake. Within a day this new Amelia, Mia, has moved in with Amelia's roommate Darby and quietly told her to stay away.

Then the older students ask Amelia to Compose the winning spell for a big magical competition, one Mystwick hasn't entered for nearly twenty years. And a black envelope arrives inviting her to something called the Midnight Orchestra.

Amelia tells it herself and she's easy to root for. She says yes to things to keep the peace, then worries about them all night. Her friend Jai is the funniest thing in it ("If they try it, we riot!"). Mia is a brilliant villain. Who hasn't met a Mia, sweet as pie in front of everyone and horrible the second they're alone with you?

There's sadness under the jokes too. Amelia's mum died before the story starts, and Amelia keeps finding traces of her at the school. It's handled gently.

If your reader likes school stories with rivalries, secret meetings and a competition to win, and they're happy with a bit of spooky magic, this is great fun.

What to read next

If they're after another girl at a magic school whose magic won't do what it's told, try Upside-Down Magic. Nory Horace needs to turn into a black kitten for her entrance test, and ends up half beaver, chewing her dad's bookshelf.