The Spell Book of Listen Taylor: And the Secrets of the Family Zing

by Jaclyn Moriarty

Book Overview

A fairytale, a mystery, a history of hot-air ballooning, and a romance . . . A novel so brilliant, moving, zingy -- and Zingy -- that it could only have come from Jaclyn Moriarty. The Zing family... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439846781
• ISBN13: 9780439846783
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
• Length: 479 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great for girls

My 13-year-old is working her way through all of Moriarty's books, loves them, and encourages me to read them when she's done. Great!

Excellent as Chick-Lit, Bad as YA

I picked this book up on a whim at a bookstore, attracted mostly by the cover and the description, and I am so glad I did. This was probably the most enjoyable new book I've read in months; maybe years. I laughed out loud frequently, and just "had" to show my husband some of the funniest parts. I highly recommend this volume to women with a taste for magical realism and a quirky sense of humor. Notice, however, that I say "women." As other reviewers have noted, this book centers more on adult characters than on children. Three of five main viewpoint characters are adult women. One is a suburban mother; one is a late-twenties white collar worker; one is a school-teacher. This suggests to me that the book is really intended for 20-30 something women with careers and long-term relationships. In other words, it seems more like chick-lit than YA fiction to me. I think if you had handed this book to me ten years ago, when I was an undergraduate, I would have enjoyed it, but I wouldn't have "gotten it" the way I do now. I suspect that in another ten years, there will be a new level of enjoyment if I were to pick it up and reread. In the same way, I think older teen girls might like the quirkiness of this book, but I think they'd enjoy it even more in a decade, after more time spent playing the relationship-and-career game (and after reading Foucault, of course, as Leonie Marple-Hedginton would tell us). P.S. I see from other reviews that this is actually a revision of an adult novel. If so, I hope Moriarty's publisher makes the original available, too!

One of My Favorite Books This Year

I don't write many reviews, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity. I loved The Spell Book of Listen Taylor. It's quirky, charming, and completely original. Every plot twist surprised me. Every character felt remarkably real. (Particularly Listen and Cassie.) And I found the ending truly touching. I've been thinking about it for weeks. In my opinion whether it's written for kids or adults, a good book is a good book, and I'm positive readers young and old will enjoy The Spell Book of Listen Taylor as much as I did. Kirsten Miller, author of Kiki Strike.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

12-year-old Listen Taylor, whose friends have decided to ditch her at the beginning of junior high, finds a spell book that claims it will mend her broken heart. Her father's girlfriend, Marbie Zing, struggles with her fears of losing her happiness and makes a terrible mistake. Marbie's sister, Fancy, speculates about her marriage as she works with Marbie to maintain their family secret. And Cath, a young teacher, falls for a married co-worker and discovers her life has a lot more to it than she ever suspected. These four stories intertwine in THE SPELL BOOK OF LISTEN TAYLOR. Jaclyn Moriarty skillfully weaves together the narratives over the course of a school year, drawing the characters closer and closer together, and closer to a climax that is both surprising and inevitable. With each new strand, events that seemed unimportant in one narrative take on new significance. Each character's story adds to the others, creating a bigger picture that is far more satisfying than any one story would have been on its own. Each of the characters are well-developed in their own right. Teen readers will likely sympathize most with Listen, who must overcome the unspoken rules of popularity and friendships, and Cath, who is young enough to still be uncertain of her place in the world. They may have more trouble relating to Marbie and Cath, who are dealing with issues of settling down and marital satisfaction, subjects which rarely affect teens. However, this also means the book will appeal to adults as well as children, and perhaps give teens a glimpse into the lives of their parents and teachers. Despite the title and the spell book Listen finds, the spells which provide some framework for the story, THE SPELL BOOK OF LISTEN TAYLOR is mainly a realistic novel, with a light shading of magic. Readers expecting sorcery and special powers may be disappointed. But the hints of magic, in many ways, are far more enjoyable than if this book were outright supernatural or fantasy. They suggest that the extraordinary is possible in everyday life, even if you're not a witch or a wizard. If you're looking for a quiet, thoughtful, but still suspenseful read, with a magic anyone can believe in, run out and grab THE SPELL BOOK OF LISTEN TAYLOR. It is one of the most unique books I've read this year, and one I never wanted to put down. Reviewed by: Lynn Crow