Title: The Mystwick School of Musicraft
Author: Jessica Khoury
Pages: 368
Release Date: January 21st 2020
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Goodreads Rating: 4.02 (of 2135 ratings)



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Humor and heart shine in this middle grade fantasy about a girl who attends a boarding school to learn how to use music to create magic, perfect for fans of Nevermoor and The School for Good and Evil series.
Amelia Jones always dreamed of attending the Mystwick School of Musicraft, where the world’s most promising musicians learn to create magic. So when Amelia botches her audition, she thinks her dream has met an abrupt and humiliating end—until the school agrees to give her a trial period. Amelia is determined to prove herself, vowing to do whatever it takes to become the perfect musician. Even if it means pretending to be someone she isn’t. Meanwhile, a mysterious storm is brewing that no one, not even the maestros at Mystwick, is prepared to contain. Can Amelia find the courage to be true to herself in time to save her beloved school from certain destruction?
You can read my review here!
I loved the concept of this world so much in this middle grade read. The premise of the world is that people have the power to do magic via musical instruments. All a person has to do is play a simple song/tune on their musical instrument of their choice and changes in weather, clothes, and more will happen. Since this is Book Princess Reviews, I started thinking about what would happen if Amelia and her classmates played Disney songs – and just kind of spells they would create. I never resist a chance to jam to some Disney songs, so I had to take this opportunity!
A Whole New World – Aladdin
🎵 A whole new world
A dazzling place I never knew
But when I’m way up here
It’s crystal clear 🎵
If our main heroine, Amelia, is playing this song – obviously, the first thought is some sort of teleportation would be occurring and transporting her to a whole new world. However, looking at the actual lyrics, I kind of felt like it would focus more on the outlook of the person. Instead I feel like if Amelia is playing the song, some sort of shimmering filter would come down and provide a haze to see the true beauty of the world. If you’re having a bad day, you could play this tune (with Peabo Bryson absolutely outsinging everything) and crystal clear goodness will be dazzling you.
Part of Your World – The Little Mermaid
🎵 Wanderin’ free,
Wish I could be
Part of that world🎵
This song is all about Ariel’s longing to be a part of the human world. Amelia faces some of the same struggles – she is longing to fit into the musical world and her new school, where she feels ostracized. However, changing yourself to fit in, isn’t the moral of this story. If Amelia plays this tune, she would change into any creature – frogs (which play an interesting part in this story), ants, and more to live like them for a day. It certainly would allow her – and anyone that does it – a different perspective for a day.
Whistle While You Work – Snow White
🎵 When hearts are high
Time will fly
So whistle while you work 🎵
Amelia makes some messes in this story – and this would definitely be a spell that I would love. This is a song to clean – perhaps not up all messes since humans can be the messiest with each other. I would love this spell to clear up my room or maybe even my bookshelves??? I think we’ve all been there, surrounded by high piles of books, just trying to figure out where to start with our organizing. Despite me not liking Snow White, I would probably love this spell the most.
I’ll Make a Man Out of You – Mulan
🎵 Swift as the coursing river,
With all the force of a great typhoon,
Be a man with all strength of a raging fire 🎵
I most definitely had to include this song in here as it’s my favorite Disney song ever. It’s forever catchy, and would be quite a jazzy, upbeat song added to the Disney spell lineup. This song would give the speaker greater agility, strength, and power – much like all of the traits that are mentioned in the lyrics.
Ahhh, I love it! ❤ You're both so creative with your posts!
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Thank you so so much, Suziey!! ❤ ❤
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This is great….also maybe I would abuse these magical songs if I had them?? I wouldn’t spend a second on this world if I could get to a whole new one 😉
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Ooh wonderful post, I love this idea 😍
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