Having arrived at Price Island in Bad Magic (2014), Clay still feels like an outsider at the secluded Earth Ranch summer camp. Ostensibly for the rehabilitation of troubled youth, the camp truly operates to help kids hone their magical abilities t Clay's talents remain decidedly unremarkable. That changes when he discovers an ancient book, Secrets of the Occulta Draco; or, The Memoirs of a Dragon Tamer, hidden in a cave. Meanwhile, Brett just washed up on the beach, having been pitched off his father's cruise ship so that a "search and rescue" team can scour the island for the dragon rumored to live there. Clay and Brett team up ong with the other campers stop the interlopers and see what all the dragon talk is about. Bosch's humorous, intrusive narration is liberally applied to this engaging adventure imarily as footnotes that define challenging vocabulary and cultural references d pages from the Occulta Draco are interspersed throughout. Readers will be thoroughly entertained by this second installment in the Bad Books series.

Clay finds a kid washed up on a volcanic island's beach and agrees to hide him in a cave near the Earth Ranch camp, "a magic camp for young adepts." When the castaway's wealthy dad comes ashore in search of a dragon, Clay discovers his own supernatural ability: interspecies communication. A clever, funny adventure perfect for fans of dragons and magic.

Gr 4-6 This second installment in the series picks up just about where Bad Magic (Little, Brown, 2014) left off: with sixth-grader Clay at Earth Ranch, an island camp for delinquent youth that is really a camp for kids with magical talents. This time around, readers also meet Brett, the precocious son of a billionaire-cum-cruise ship ownerand Brett has just discovered that his father may be in the midst of some dastardly scheme. Brett ends up washed ashore on the island housing Earth Ranch, and almost as soon as Clay finds and helps him, strangewell, strangerthings start to happen on the island. This second volume has plenty of Bosch's signature cheekiness and footnotes, and it's chock-full of intrigue, danger, secret missions, betrayal, a magical library within a library, and a creature straight from legend. Longtime Bosch fans will be thrilled at the reappearance of characters from his "Secret Series" (Little, Brown), but the good fun and solid adventure will delight new readers just the same. VERDICT An excellent addition to middle grade collections. Amy Koester, Learning Experiences Department, Skokie PL