| Mack Street knows he has magic powers, but he doesn't know why or who he really is. He was found in a park by a couple of skateboarders and brought to a nurse in the middle-class African-American neighborhood of Baldwin Hills in Los Angeles.
The nurse, Ura Lee Smitcher, and one of the skateboarders, Cecil “Ceese” Tucker, between them raise Mack. Mack spends a lot of his time hanging around the neighborhood, having meals with other families and often spending long periods away from home. He sees the deepest wishes of his neighbors in dreams. When Mack turns 13, he discovers a “skinny house” that only he can find. It appears between two adjacent houses, and only Mack can see it. The back yard opens onto a fairyland that appears to be superimposed on Los Angeles. The characters inhabiting this fairyland are drawn from Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream.” Mack meets Puck, the sly worker of magical practical jokes, and Titania, the queen of the fairies. He becomes involved in a final battle between good and evil and learns who he really is, where his magic powers come from, and why he has been granted them. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - sensitive (sigh....) FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy story on current Earth Coming of age Yes Youngster becomes - a powerful magician Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Descript. of chases or violence - 20 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20 % Main Character Identity: - Male Age: - a teen Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - long-lived adults Profession/status: Has magical powers? Yes How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting Terrain Takes place on Earth? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references only - descript of kissing How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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