about the book
Midnight Gulch is a secret place in the forested mountains of Tennessee. According to her mother, the people there once had magic flowing through their veins. The moment her mom’s van rolls across the bridge at the town’s edge, Felicity Pickle (age 12) feels it. The magic is still here! There isn’t much; just a snicker!
What Felicity wants most is to finally put down roots. Her Mama, a wandering spirit, keeps moving Felicity, her little sister Frannie Joe, and their dog Biscuit from place to place. This is where Mama grew up. This could be “home”!
As usual, Felicity does not make a good first impression in school. She’s an odd-ball. A connoisseur of words, she sees them all around her, shimmering in all colors and shapes, dancing above strangers, even tangled in her dog’s floppy ears. She collects them and thinks about them constantly. They help her read minds and see into the future. But if she tries to use the words out loud, she often becomes tongue-tied—the Queen of Dorkville.
She discovers that long ago, the famous magician brothers, Stone and Berry Threadbare, grew jealous of each other and ended up in an epic magic duel. Defeated, Stone was cursed to wander forever, and when he left town, the magic disappeared too.
Felicity uncovers the stories of other residents, each tinged with magic, including the anonymous Beedle who has been spreading kindness through the community for fifty years, and Jonah, an spiky-haired wheelchair-bound do-gooder. His shimmering words cause her heart to pound!
Can she use her words to break the curse and bring magic back to Midnight Gulch? More importantly, is her mother somehow related to the wandering Stone Threadbare?
about the author
Ever since she was old enough to daydream, Natalie Lloyd wanted to be a writer. She was always fascinated by words, but thought becoming an author was the kind of dream that was too good to ever come true. A Snicker of Magic is her debut novel, and she still can’t believe that she “actually gets to do this!”
After she graduated from college with a degree in journalism, Natalie believed that any kind of writing would satisfy her longing to take pen to paper. But though she was grateful for the work, writing press releases just didn’t do it. Realizing life was just too short, this shy writer decided to share her geeky characters and playful language in a middle grade novel.
A Snicker of Magic was inspired when she attended a concert by the Avett Brothers with her family, where people danced in the aisles and sang along with the music. Just seeing all these different types of people coming together was magical. The seed for the novel was planted, and it grew when Natalie reminisced about her grandparents, who have passed on. When she thinks of “home,” it’s just not the place she recalls, it’s the people.
Natalie’s home is in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In her spare time, she collects old books and tacky Christmas decorations, listens to bluegrass music, and loves exploring nearby quirky mountain towns with her fluffy white pooch, the real Biscuit! And she is thrilled when readers tell her they are starting their own word collecting notebooks.
Sources :
Author website
Author interview: Sturdy for Common Things
Book trailer: A Snicker of Magic
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