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Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
In Maggie and the Mountain of Light (Wayfinder Girls Novel) by Mark Snoad, we are reminded that fitting in is always difficult, but when you’re stuck with the name Margaret Elizabeth Thatcher, things can be more than just awkward. She prefers the name Maggie to distance herself from her namesake, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Adding to her name issues, Maggie has health problems as well, sometimes depending on an asthma inhaler and an epi-pen to stay alive. It’s not quite so hard for Maggie’s best friend Anahira, who is close by at all times. This becomes a blessing when the girls are enrolled in the Wayfinder apocalypse training camp just outside London. It’s supposed to be fun, but it turns out that this respected organization has a hidden purpose and the girls at the camp are going to face a global threat. Evil powers are at play and they’ve singled out Maggie with all her health problems to be the pawn in bringing down the magic Faerie queen and the Mountain of Light. It turns out that Maggie is a little stronger and smarter than the evil powers assumed and the battle isn’t over yet.
Mark Snoad’s middle-grade fantasy novel, Maggie and the Mountain of Light, is part of a series. Told mostly from Maggie’s point of view (with some scenes in the third person from the evil power’s perspective), the plot moves along building tension and excitement. Taking a respected girls' organization and creating superpower characters, the story includes other issues that preteen girls face, such as a sense of self-worth, feelings of inadequacy, the need to feel that you belong, and addressing bullies. The challenges young Maggie faces with her health difficulties and name association just add fuel to the fire for those seeking to bring her down. True friendship, particularly between Maggie and Anahira, builds their superpowers and leads them to success. This is a fast-paced and powerful mystery/fantasy/end-of-world story that will have young readers engrossed to the very end.
