Magic or Madness Books

For fifteen years, Reason Cansino has lived on the run. Together with her mother, Sarafina, she has moved from one place to another in the Australian countryside, desperate not to be found by Reason’s grandmother Esmeralda, a dangerous woman who believes in magic. But the moment Reason walks through Esmeralda’s back door and finds herselfon a New York City street, she’s confronted by an unavoidable truth—magic is real.

Fifteen-year-old Reason Cansino has learned the painful truth that she—like her mother, grandmother, and new friends Tom and Jay-Tee—must face a choice between using the magic that lives in her blood and dying young, or refusing to use the magic and losing her mind. Now a new threat leaves Reason stranded alone in New York City, struggling to control a power she barely understands. But could the danger she faces also hold the key to saving her life? Magic Lessons is a stunning follow-up to Larbalestier’s debut novel, Magic or Madness, which earned multiple starred reviews and a spot on the Locus 2005 Recommended Reading List, along with being named a Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal and the Young Adult Round Table of the TLA.