This is a young middle grade book - I think some people would push it into beginning chapter, but it's just under 200 pages and includes fairly complex vocabulary so I don't think it qualifies as a beginning chapter book. When you consider how many kids struggle to read, it's interesting that books seem to be pushed more and more to older/more fluent readers. Anyways, I digress.

Bosch is (was?) a very popular chapter book author. My library only has the first book of his best-known series, The name of this book is secret and although I've considered more titles, I've never gotten enough interest from the kids to purchase more, since they're all available in my consortium. I was interested in this book because I'm looking for younger middle grade and because the magician theme is usually a popular one.

Oliver, an under-sized Jewish eight-year-old, dreams of being a great magician. But with a deck of cards that's incomplete and a lack of, well, magic that has even his best friends, twins Beatriz (Bea) and Martina (Teenie) unimpressed, he's ready to give up. Then the twins get him invited to the most popular (and nasty) third grader's birthday party - as the star entertainment! Oliver is desperate and begs his cousin, who works in a magic shop, for help. But all he gets is a moldy old hat. A hat with... a talking rabbit inside?

When Oliver arrives at the party, he soon finds out he has more problems than his lack of magic, a bunny on the lam who thinks they're in Vegas, and some mean kids. Bea and Teenie's present for the birthday boy, a robot cat their dads helped them buy, has disappeared and Oliver is accused of being the thief! Can he switch from magician to detective and solve the mystery?

The pages are decorated with frequent line drawings in shades of grey and purple. There are occasional speech bubbles, but I would call this an illustrated chapter book or at most a graphic blend, not a notebook novel or graphic novel.

I wasn't very taken with the book. Benny the bunny talks about a lot of "professional magic" that includes gambling, running from the police for undisclosed reasons, and lots of jokes that I think will pass over most of my readers' heads. There's not really any reason given for the sudden transition from magic tricks and a talking rabbit to solving a mystery; even when it is solved, although the solution is given in the form of a magic trick, it feels forced and the culprit doesn't make any sense. The bullies are over the top, "mean rich kids" and overall the humor felt forced. However, I'm not the audience for this and the real question is, will fluent second graders and third graders enjoy it? I think the answer is yes.

Verdict: I prefer Kate Egan's Magic Shop series, but I admit they don't have a high circulation in my library - not enough pictures would be my guess. I think this will circulate more, especially due to the more extensive graphics. While I don't see it having the staying power of humorous illustrated titles like Dragonbreath, it's certainly a perfectly acceptable filler book for kids in that transitional chapter book phase and features a diverse cast.

ISBN: 9780525552321; Published May 2019 by Dial; Review copy provided by the publisher; Donated to the library