Review: Alyssa and the Spell Garden

Alyssa and the Spell Garden is a magical, mesmerising contemporary fantasy that blossoms with community spirit, family and friendship.

Eleven-year-old Alyssa is spending the summer holidays with her Great-Auntie Jasmine in North London, who she has never met before, whilst her parents are working.  Arriving at Jasmine’s Teas, she quickly discovers her Great-Auntie’s love for plants as she has a greenhouse and an allotment with a wide variety of plants.  Although Alyssa feels welcomed, she gets upset by something she sees which provides the catalyst that releases her hidden magical powers causing chaos in the teashop. 

After her Great-Auntie reveals that her family have magical powers, she invites Alyssa to attend the magical school she runs in her spell garden to learn to control her powers, and help ensure that the magic of the spell garden survives.  Her great-grandmother had planted the spell garden, which uses the magical properties of plants to protect the community and help neighbours, when she arrived from Jamaica as part of the Windrush Generation.  This is a legacy that the family have continued as Keepers are trained to take care of the magical plants used in spells.  But why has this family heritage been kept a secret from Alyssa by her mother? 

Alyssa feels a real sense of belonging as she is welcomed into the spell garden by the other children including her cousins, Rosalie and Rue.  But the magic is fading and along with it the protection that it offers the community.  Will Alyssa be able to discover what is causing the magic to fade before the community also disappears? And, what will she do if she discovers that she is to blame through a decision she has made?

I really enjoyed this captivating adventure and loved the use of magical plants to make healing teas and protection spells.  I loved that the children who attended the magical school did not need to have magical powers in order to learn how to use the magical plants for spells.  They are a group who care about their community and looking after it which brings its own magic.  This is a story that also addresses some important urban issues around eviction and gentrification of an existing community as well as the importance of having natural spaces in built-up areas.

Alyssa is a wonderfully sympathetic young girl.  She is struggling to come to terms with her parents’ separation and worrying about fitting in and making friends at the magic school.  Feeling a sense of belonging as she makes friends and learns about her family really helps her control her magic and settle in to the community that she is determined to save when it is threatened.

The chapter heading illustrations of plants are exquisite; I loved that each of the plants included a property that leads into the writing perfectly.

A wonderfully enchanting adventure blooming with the magic of friendship and family and the spirit of community, perfect for readers of 9+.

Thank you to Faber Children’s Books for providing me with a proof copy in exchange for my honest opinion.