The Magic Nation Thing

Abby O'Malley is a girl who likes things to make sense. School makes sense, and her best friend Paige makes sense (most of the time), but Abby's flighty mothernevermakes sense. Abby's mom seems to think that she and Abby are descended from a line of witches, and that they have special powerspsychic powers that don't make sense at all. The problem is, Abby knows that she can do certain things that other people can't. Sometimes, when she holds an object in her hand, she's overpowered by sounds and pictures that show where the owner is and what he or she is doing. Abby thinks of this as her "magic nation," because that is what her kindergarten teacher told her it was called. Now 11, Abby has an inkling that her teacher may have been saying it was her "imagination," which unfortunately, she knows it is not. Now some things are happening in her mother's detective agencycases where Abby's magic nation thing might come in handy. But does Abby want to admit that such a sensible girl could have such an unsensible power? From the Hardcover edition.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder received the Newbery Honor Award for The Egypt Game, The Witches of Worm, and The Headless Cupid. She lives with her
husband in Mill Valley, California.