What We Found in the Corn Maze and How It Saved a Dragon

When three kids discover a book of magic spells that can only be cast a few short minutes a day, they'll need all the time they can get to save a dying magical world, its last dragon, and themselves!

An ordinary day turns extraordinary when twelve-year-old Cal witnesses his neighbor Modesty summon a slew of lost coins without lifting a finger. Turns out she has a secret manual of magic spells...but they only work sometimes. And they're the most boring spells ever:
To Change the Color of a RoomTo Repair a ChimneyTo Walk With StiltsTo Untangle Yarn

Useless! But when Cal, his friend Drew, and his neighbor Modesty are suddenly transported to the world the spells come from -- a world that's about to lose its last dragon -- they'll have to find a way to use the oddly specific incantations to save the day, if only they can figure out when magic works.

An adventure about magic, friendship, a lookout tower come to life, a maze in the shape of a dragon, an actual dragon named Phlogiston, and lots and lots of popcorn.

Rating:

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for a review copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.

That title is a mouthful, and I don’t recommend saying it five times fast, because who knows what could happen? You might end up opening a wormhole that the Earth falls into, thereby destroying all of creation, and you wouldn’t want that one on your resume, now would you?

What We Found in the Corn Maze and How It Saved a Dragon is a funny, punny adventure that extols the virtues of science in a sneaky, engaging way, wrapped up in a whole dragonload of fun.

I’m not entirely sure how to describe this book, because while the blurb does a good job, it doesn’t quite capture the heart in this story. I just had so much fun with this book, more than I imagined I would. Definitely one I would recommend to kids, and I think the easy humor would draw them right in.

This book has a delightful, charming, easy-to-read voice that’s full of humor and easily relatable.

Do I think kids will love it? Heck yes. I loved it. You could argue that, really, I’m just a big kid, and that’d probably be fair, but that also means I know what I’m talking about, so there.

The plot is a little all over the place at first, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect or where it was going, but around the 30% mark, the quest really kicked into gear, and the plot was a little more focused on something other than I found a book of useless magic.

Normally, this would drive me bonkers. I’m a very plot-centric gal. But here, the voice was just so fun and relatable that I was fine just going along for the ride. Yeah, sure, let’s meander here and there. I was just sort of fine with it, because Cal makes for a funny, engaging narrator.

There’s a little of everything in this book: magic spells, endangered dragons, puns (oh so many wonderful puns), a quest, a conspiracy, new friendships. Yet, none of it is quite as you might expect.

This book follows a very Pratchett-like (Pratchettian? Pratchettish?) habit of twists and turns. Just when you’re sure X will happen, the very improbable Y will happen instead … and probably make you laugh, at the same time. This was so freaking effective, because the book incorporates a lot of tropes that you think might end up being tired and cliche, but it twists them in a way that makes them recognizable yet fresh and fun.

We’ve seen the whole “find a book of magic spells” a million times, haven’t we? But have we ever seen magic whose sole intended purpose is for cleaning? It’s a parent’s dream, perhaps, but boy does it make the kids groan (and to be honest, the idea of cleaning makes me groan, so that’s obviously why I want these spells). Yet, the book actually still manages to be useful during the quest. It just requires a little careful thought about how to use the spells, which I absolutely loved. The approach was creative and kept me guessing.

The characters in this are just absolutely delightful.

You’ve got our main guy, Cal, who is the child of farmers … and farming can be a difficult life. I really appreciated how the book tackled this, in the midst of everything else, because legacy farms are hard. Staying afloat as a farmer? Also hard. Coming back from your kid burning your $100,000 piece of farming equipment? Well, you get the gist. Cal’s not what I would call brainy, but he’s a problem-solver, and his heart’s in the right place (mainly, his chest … I APOLOGIZE FOR NOTHING. Cheesy jokes galore with this book! Own it.)

Modesty is the go-getter of the group. She’s a leader, unafraid to take charge in a situation and just do the thing. Not exactly the stop-and-think-before-charging-in sort of character, but hey, that’s what she’s got the guys for, right?

Then there’s Drew, who’s the more book-smart, logical one. I didn’t feel like I got to know Drew as well as the others, which is a shame, because he’s probably the one who’s most like me. I loved how matter-of-fact he could be, though.

Last but not least, there’s Pre, who is a librarian who just wants to be a scientist (and on behalf of librarians everywhere, I’d be offended, if being a scientist wasn’t so stinking cool in its own right.) To be fair, science doesn’t exist in his world, which makes it more exotic. It’d be the equivalent of me wanting to be a witch and … well, duh. So I can’t really fault him on this one.

There’s this super sneaky thing going on here, where the book slips in some really powerful life lessons while the reader isn’t looking.

It’s sort of a “drop and go” approach, where they’re slipped into some action, and yet they catch your attention because, one, you’re not looking for or expecting them, but two, they make perfect sense in the context that you’re like … huh. Well, that’s a good point.

My favorite examples of this, in particular, are with Pre and his absolute fascination with science, which doesn’t exist in his world.

They went more the magic route, and while it’d be easy for me to say I’d prefer that (I think I would), it does raise a really interesting point about what we’d lose without science. Pre wants very much to be a scientist, so the book shows, in a lot of little ways, how much science can play a part in everyday life. Or, you know, in big quests to save the world, even. It was so fun to see the little ways that Pre did something “scientifical” without even realizing it, because science is just that broad and that powerful.

This book is super punny and with the cheesiest sense of humor, and I absolutely freaking loved it.

That seems to be the style of humor these days, if you look at the big kid favorites like Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, honestly. You’ll not find me complaining in the least bit, because I am so for this. It’s witty, in a simplistic way, and makes the story so much more enjoyable to read.

The best thing about this type of humor is that it allows the author to slip in all sorts of little Easter eggs that younger kids may not understand, but which older readers and adults will appreciate even more.

Basically, it’s accessible to all ages. There’s a little something for everyone. The book is obviously targeted to kids, but this would be a super fun one for parents to read out loud with their youngsters, too.