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Nothing Up My Sleeve
From beloved author Diana López comes an exciting middle grade story about three friends, a magic competition, and how far they'll go to succeed.
Sixth graders Dominic, Loop, and Z stumble upon a new magic
shop in town and can't wait to spend their summer mastering
cool tricks to gain access to the Vault, a key holders-only back
room bound to hold all kinds of secrets. And once they get
in, they set their sights even higher: a huge competition at the
end of the summer. They work on their card tricks, sleights,
and vanishing acts, trying to come up with the most awesome
routines possible....Problem is, the trip is expensive, and it's
money that each guy's family just doesn't have.
To make things worse, the shop-owners' daughter, Ariel (who
just so happens to be last year's competition winner), will do
anything to make sure the boys don't come out on top. Even pit
them against one another. Will they make it to the competition?
And if so, at what cost?
Diana López, author of Confetti Girl and Ask My Mood Ring
How I Feel, offers a story that's just the right mix of heart,
high jinks, and a bit of magic.
Sixth graders Dominic, Loop, and Z stumble upon a new magic
shop in town and can't wait to spend their summer mastering
cool tricks to gain access to the Vault, a key holders-only back
room bound to hold all kinds of secrets. And once they get
in, they set their sights even higher: a huge competition at the
end of the summer. They work on their card tricks, sleights,
and vanishing acts, trying to come up with the most awesome
routines possible....Problem is, the trip is expensive, and it's
money that each guy's family just doesn't have.
To make things worse, the shop-owners' daughter, Ariel (who
just so happens to be last year's competition winner), will do
anything to make sure the boys don't come out on top. Even pit
them against one another. Will they make it to the competition?
And if so, at what cost?
Diana López, author of Confetti Girl and Ask My Mood Ring
How I Feel, offers a story that's just the right mix of heart,
high jinks, and a bit of magic.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published April 19, 2016
9 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Diana López
56 books78 followersDiana López is the author of numerous middle grade novels, including Confetti Girl and Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel. She also wrote the middle grade adaptation of the Disney/Pixar film Coco. Diana is a lifelong resident of Corpus Christi, Texas and works with various nonprofits to mentor new writers.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 30, 2016
When Dominic, Loop, & Z stumble upon the Conjuring Cats magic shop, their summer plans start looking up. Even the owner's daughter, Ariel, with her condescending manner and obvious dislike of them, can't scare the boys away. They start to learn how to do sleights of hand, each focusing on a different type of trick. Ariel becomes even more irritated when her father begins mentoring the boys and getting them ready to enter a contest at the end of the summer. All three boys have loving but very different Latinx families. They each must find ways to balance their new found love of magic with their responsibilities to their families as well as their friendship with each other. This is a well-crafted novel with realistic situations that will draw in readers and keeping them interested until the end. Includes a great list of resources for becoming a magician. Recommended for grades 4 & up.
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
March 9, 2016
This is a great book for middle school age youth. Friends, family, and magic are a good combination and the author presents it in a way that readers this age will find interesting. There is an ease to the book with enough interest in the varying complexities of family and friends, jealousy, competition, perseverance, and lots and lots of magic!
The author presented my husband with an advanced copy telling him his magic shop was a source of inspiration.
The author presented my husband with an advanced copy telling him his magic shop was a source of inspiration.
June 23, 2019
Had to slog through this one. Dominic, Loop and Z happen upon a store with all kinds of merchandise to perform magic tricks. Ariel, the owner's daughter, is the reigning champion of the teen magic competition. The boys decide to learn magic and enter the competition. The only interesting part is the ending where they perform their magic routines. It has an America's Got Talent kind of vibe. The rest of the book is quite boring. It's all about the boys developing their performance skills and dealing with their unique family situations. Very flat. No character development. Surprised I even got through it.
Recommend either of these books instead.
The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris
Magicians of Elephant County by Adam Perry
Recommend either of these books instead.
The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris
Magicians of Elephant County by Adam Perry
January 9, 2023
I have never put in the work to become a magician, but I've found that I love reading books about them! Nothing Up My Sleeve stars three sixth-grade boys; Loop, Dominic, and Z. They get interested in magic after visiting a shop called the Conjuring Cats. I loved this book because the characters were so loveable and I felt really connected to them. You learn about the family of the three main characters and how each of them has problems or isn't exactly happy. This book is realistic fiction because the magic in the book was show-magic and it shows how each of the tricks can be pulled off. I would recommend this book to primarily preteens or teenagers interested in magic or reading about it as I do.
August 31, 2024
I couldn't get into this one. Seemed a bit young for 10-12 yr. olds - maybe it would be better for grades 3/4? I also couldn't get into the characters - all 3 seemed to have similar voices.
December 14, 2023
1) The magic tricks were pretty cool in this book. Lopez gives us enough of a taste of the tricks each boy learns without revealing too much of how it's done. (A magician never reveals his/her secrets!)
2) I liked the arc for Ariel... How she gets the boys to compete against each other. Her part got even better once we met Stewart as the guy to beat! I'm not sure how she would have done it, but I felt Lopez almost needed to introduce that kid sooner.
3) Mr. Garza (aka Senor Surprise) hands out a lot of wisdom, but not in a way that's intrusive. I like how he uses tricks to help the boys with their problems at home. And even though he gives advice, each boy comes up with his own solution to fix the problem.
4) This book made me go google some of the magic tricks it talked about! The French Drop, among others! Fun to see the tricks in action. :)
5) I enjoyed reading the little definitions of "magic" terms that precede each chapter. Most terms I already knew, but some were new to me.
6) I'm glad that the boys [*SPOILER] did not win the big competition, considering that they were still pretty green. I'm also glad that Stewart did not win either! [End Spoiler]
7) I kept getting confused with which boy was which! We were following three of them, and even by the end of the book, I was getting confused with Loop vs. Dominic vs. Z.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Definitely would recommend this book to any kids who want to learn magic tricks. I do have an interest in it, but I am pretty hopeless when it comes to performing these sorts of trick. But maybe that's because I don't practice enough! :)
2) I liked the arc for Ariel... How she gets the boys to compete against each other. Her part got even better once we met Stewart as the guy to beat! I'm not sure how she would have done it, but I felt Lopez almost needed to introduce that kid sooner.
3) Mr. Garza (aka Senor Surprise) hands out a lot of wisdom, but not in a way that's intrusive. I like how he uses tricks to help the boys with their problems at home. And even though he gives advice, each boy comes up with his own solution to fix the problem.
4) This book made me go google some of the magic tricks it talked about! The French Drop, among others! Fun to see the tricks in action. :)
5) I enjoyed reading the little definitions of "magic" terms that precede each chapter. Most terms I already knew, but some were new to me.
6) I'm glad that the boys [*SPOILER] did not win the big competition, considering that they were still pretty green. I'm also glad that Stewart did not win either! [End Spoiler]
7) I kept getting confused with which boy was which! We were following three of them, and even by the end of the book, I was getting confused with Loop vs. Dominic vs. Z.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Definitely would recommend this book to any kids who want to learn magic tricks. I do have an interest in it, but I am pretty hopeless when it comes to performing these sorts of trick. But maybe that's because I don't practice enough! :)
August 19, 2016
What I liked about this book:
A boy where boys are the main characters
The author is a middle-grade Latina writer who casts Latinas and Latinos as the book characters
Each chapter has word from magic on the first page that is defined
The author uses both English and Spanish phrases in the book
While the story line centers around magic and a competition, she doesn't explain exactly how all the magic works. She gives additional books for kids to research and leaves it up to ambitious kids to figure it out on their own
This was a great middle grade read with so much to like... but here is what I struggled with...
At first I had a hard time keeping the three main characters straight - it took a while to really keep them separate in my head
While each of the characters had their own challenges to work through, the solution to some of these challenges felt "quickly resolved" and over-simplified. Life isn't really that easy
The author sent this book to me because we are considering this book for our Youth One Book One Denver program. I'm excited about this possibility as it offers may ways to engage kids in reading and in magic.
A boy where boys are the main characters
The author is a middle-grade Latina writer who casts Latinas and Latinos as the book characters
Each chapter has word from magic on the first page that is defined
The author uses both English and Spanish phrases in the book
While the story line centers around magic and a competition, she doesn't explain exactly how all the magic works. She gives additional books for kids to research and leaves it up to ambitious kids to figure it out on their own
This was a great middle grade read with so much to like... but here is what I struggled with...
At first I had a hard time keeping the three main characters straight - it took a while to really keep them separate in my head
While each of the characters had their own challenges to work through, the solution to some of these challenges felt "quickly resolved" and over-simplified. Life isn't really that easy
The author sent this book to me because we are considering this book for our Youth One Book One Denver program. I'm excited about this possibility as it offers may ways to engage kids in reading and in magic.
June 12, 2016
Bookaday #13. This is one I will recommend to the students who love the Vanishing Coin series and who are ready for a longer chapter book. Like magic vocabulary words for each chapter, easily identified pov, and all the magic trick info embedded in the narrative. Texas setting also a plus. Funny (to me) quote in page 346: "This was no time to argue about who read more books."
June 11, 2016
A well crafted middle grade novel with diverse Latino families. The setting is realistic and the dialogue is authentic. Overall, an engaging friendship story with plenty of information about magic tricks and magicians.
September 12, 2016
Using alternating perspectives for this book was a great idea. It showed exactly how miscommunication happens between friends. Great book for aspiring magicians.
July 27, 2016
Even without wizards, spies, and ghosts, this is an engaging story about three boys and their summer learning magic.
November 1, 2016
This book was an interesting story of how three friends become magicians.
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January 20, 2018I got three chapters in and gave up...It might be that this is just geared toward younger readers, but it was one of those books that felt like it was an introduction to diversity cloaked in a story.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews