[QCrit] MG Fantasy — THE MAGIC CODE [35k, 2nd attempt]

It's been a few months since my first attempt and I'm hoping this version is closer to the mark.

Question on MG Comps: is comping to a graphic MG novel a problem? They are usually in their own section, separate from the non-graphic novels, but they also are such a big part of MG. I can argue both sides, but would love to hear the wisdom of the sub.

I am seeking representation for THE MAGIC CODE, a middle grade fantasy novel complete at 35,000 words. It combines the focus on friendship and imagination of The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell with the [TBD].

Twelve-year-old Trish has always struggled to fit in with other students, having spent most of her young life in and out of hospitals, unable to attend school regularly. Then she was frozen like the world’s largest popsicle for two-hundred years until science found a fix for her. Now, free from infirmaries and freezers forever, she’s as much of an outcast as ever because she’s the only student at her new school without a magic wand, which means she can’t cast spells or even call her one friend.

In great news for her ice-cold social life: she’s finally scheduled to receive a wand in the last period of school today.

Trish’s excitement barely survives the first bell, when she discovers Ms. Subby, the infamously malfunctioning robot, is substituting for her teacher. Ms. Subby’s something of a legend in school, if only because the few older kids who’ve had her refuse to say anything other than babble nonsense about a magic wand-wielding robot. Of course, everyone knows robots can’t use magic.

When Ms. Subby drags the class to an alternate dimension during a history lesson gone awry, it becomes clear that there might be an exception to that rule. After Trish leads her classmates on a daring escape from an evil unicorn, no one would think less of her if she chose to spend the rest of the day safely in the nurse’s office. But she’s not giving up on her wand that easily, or on solving the mystery of how this robot uses magic. Trish is ready to face a full day of Ms. Subby’s magically chaotic lessons, even if that means braving the scariest thing of all: gym class.

To survive until the final bell, Trish must learn to trust her classmates and herself in ways that will change her world more than a magic wand ever could.

First 300:

I’ve always wanted a magic wand. In a perfect world, it would be one of the new ones with dual quantum cores so you can summon multiple universes. But I’d totally settle for an old school one that runs off unicorn tears or hair from a naked mole rat queen.

I’m the only kid in sixth grade who doesn’t have one. Seriously, everyone else has a wand. Even Aracorn, who can’t figure out how to use it and accidentally created a world-destroying plague the last time they tried. The time before that they set my hair on fire when they were supposed to be levitating a toad. It’s true the school revoked their wand privileges after the whole plague incident, but that doesn’t change the fact that they have a wand and I don’t.

But today is the day. My parents told me every day for the last year that I had to wait until this birthday to get one.

Today I’m turning two hundred, and while that seems like it should be a big deal, it’s really not, because Mom says I still have to go to school.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking, “two-hundred-years-old! That’s huge! You should definitely get to skip school.”

I agree!

Of course, you might be one of those less fun kinds of people who wonder, “Wait, how are you two-hundred-years-old and still in sixth grade? No one is that bad at math.”

I get that a lot.

And everyone always guesses wrong. First, they say vampire. And it’s true: I have great skin. But that’s just genetics, not a blood curse. Besides, if I were a vampire, I’d have to go to night school. Which would mean I’d miss out on all the better things that happen at night than school.

Hard pass on being a vampire.