Dark Tricks

Star Friends #4

by Linda Chapman

Do you believe in magic? Sita and her friends do! When they meet the Star Animals, a whole world of adventure unfolds. Sita and her star animal, a deer called Willow, must use their special powers to stop the forces of dark magic.

As the Star Friends' ability to use their magic gets stronger, the forces of dark magic working against them become more intense, too. But the person using dark magic is taking risks - can the girls find out who their enemy is and confront them once and for all?

Perfect for fans of MY SECRET UNICORN and THE RESCUE PRINCESSES and for RAINBOW MAGIC readers looking to move on to a more challenging adventure.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Middle Grade, Animals

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Linda Chapman was born in Liverpool in 1969. She had many different jobs before becoming a full-time writer in 1999 including working as a theatre stage manager, a dog trainer, a bookseller, a nanny, a teacher and a research assistant. She has written over 300 books for children, some under her own name, others under different names and she often collaborates with other authors. She is currently writing books with Julie Sykes and they are co-authors on the NYT bestselling Unicorn Academy series as well as Mermaid Academy, Forever Homes and Pocket Unicorns. Linda lives in Leicestershire with her husband, three children, two horses and three dogs. She has written many different series including: My Secret Unicorn, Star Friends, Best Friends Bakery, Stardust, Skating School and, most recently, Magic Keepers and Moonlight Riders.

Reviews

[Alana Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THE BOOK! And you'll be surprised by who the person who is doing Dark Magic is....

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

ΤΕΛΕΙΟ!!!

[Ashlynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been reading this series aloud with my daughter. It’s very cute. She is very into it. The plot sucks her in and she loves the magic system—talking animal bffs that give you an ability is a dream in her book.

[Othy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on the recommendation of my daughter, who is nine and adores this series. This volume had a lot of feelings in it, and I think they were handled very well. There was also a confrontation with an enemy, and it was handled in a way that didn't seem to me to be scary for my daughter's age. Definitely recommended for a fun storybook!

[Pixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mini Review by Em 🥰✨

It was fun and exciting! The forest is beautiful and I was shocked at chapter 13 and 14 😯 I love it 💕 Can’t wait for the next book 📚😍

[Ariko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book (the Czech version) at the request of my oldest niece (8) 😊
What a beautiful story! And exciting. I recommend👍🏻

[Tanpopo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Geschichte des vierten Bandes ist wieder sehr schön und geradlinig erzählt. Kleine Leserinnen ab 8 Jahren werden diese sicher sehr faszinierend finden, geht es doch um den Zusammenhalt der Freundinnen untereinander und auch zu ihren magischen Begleitern. Bei der Enttarnung der Anwenderin der dunklen Magie müssen die Vier entschlossen handeln und auch all ihren Mut zusammennehmen.

Linda Chapman hat einen wirklich gut zu lesenden, einfachen und Kindern zugänglichen Schreibstil. Durch die recht kurz gehaltenen Bände sind die Geschichten für diese Altersgruppe leicht zu lesen und damit recht unterhaltsam. Die schönen Illustrationen von Lucy Fleming unterstützen dabei die Handlung merklich.
Wie auch beim Vorband finde ich jedoch den Titel der deutschen Ausgabe etwas verwirrend, da es zwar auch um Sita geht, sie jedoch nicht im Fokus der Handlung steht. Solche Titelangaben können Kinder schon verwirren, da sie eine ganz andere Handlungserwartung hervorrufen.
Und das Cover erstrahlt jetzt wieder in silberner Schrift, mit entsprechend funkelnden Sternen.

Auch der Band „Sternenfreunde – Sita und das magische Reh“ hat wieder alles um das Herz vieler Mädchen begeistern zu können. Daher erhält diese Geschichte eine Lesempfehlung von mir.

[Eve L-A Witherington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maia, Lottie, Ionie and Sita are back fighting bad magic and Shades. All with the help of their star magic animal friends and their own star magic.



In this instalment in the series, after arguing and fighting, falling out and disagreeing on things, the friends have to work together to find the source causing their changing attitudes.



When their star animals start to pick up on bad things around them, from a crystal to a stone, the girls work together to realise that maybe the source of their danger is actually right under their noses in the end.



Wow, a powerful little book which actually has a powerful message despite the magic element, another main focus is the power of friendships and trust, a big issue for many growing up.

As for the magical element, they finally solve the source of their problems in a shocking way!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each of the four Star Friends--Mia, Lexi, Violet, and Sita--has her own special powers, and the girls are growing more confident with their magic as their Star Animals friends guide them. But Mia wants results faster, and she begins working with a crystal given to her by her aunt. As her powers seem to lessen and her Star Animal, Bracken, urges her to steer away from other forms of magic, Mia worries about the changes she sees in her friends and the loss of a neighbor's dog. The girls and animals will be surprised when they learn who is responsible for all this dark magic. I especially liked how the author weaves in magic with the ordinary experiences of four girls learning to get along and to accept one another.

[Efox · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing Secret Spell both of my kids were extremely eager to find out what happened next. So they sat me down on the couch, stuck this book in my hands and would not let me stop until it was finished.

Like the first three, this book picks up exactly where the previous book leaves off, and races to the culmination of the final conflict between the person in the neighborhood who has been conjuring dark magic shades and the Star Friends. This one was a bit more intense (in my opinion a bit scarier) the the other three, but as always, good ultimately wins. I particularly appreciated how they managed to stop the threat of dark magic.

I have already been begged for more books (but I'm going to try to hold them off until the holidays) because they just really adore this series.

[Courtney Hatch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read with my kids:
Best one in the series so far! We love a big baddie reveal!
As an adult, the plot structure is feeling very redundant but not for my kids. With a repetitive plot structure, my kids feel secure enough in their reading that they feel confident when they encounter new or scary things that stretch them a little bit. It also makes this a great first chapter book series with enough image & structural support for the text. We like to rotate each reading a page or two (some more expressive than others). It’s been very fun.

[Mary Pimbblet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little series. I’m reading these books with my seven year old daughter and we’re both enjoying it. They’re a bit scary in parts, but nothing graphic or violent.
The characters are a group of four ten year olds, who all have their own interests and personalities. They squabble like a normal group of young girls but still bond over their magical abilities.
This book was the resolution of the ongoing plot arc, so it’ll be interesting to see where the series will go next.

[Thalia S. A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Star Friends books. Annoyingly, I have not read them all, and not in order too, but that doesn't stop me from loving the books! The pictures are super nice, and the storyline is really exciting.

[Ryceejo · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of these books are written from Mia’s perspective, even though the book covers lead you to believe you spend a novel in each girl’s brain. Darker one, and frustrating that it took so long for the girls to guess the villain. My 7yo figured it out in the first book!! It was agonizing.

[Zidana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by my 7 year old:
This is the 4th book in the Star Friends series.
In this book, the Star friends had to fight a lady named Coral who was using a black stone to do dark magic. I won’t give it away, but the ending in this story was my favorite. I laughed a few times reading this one!

[Emma Mauk · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love how they help each other no mater what

[Drakesax · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! Awesome book and Willow the Deer and Sita are amazing and I love them so much. The end-alendalendalendalenda! -Amelia

[Hailey Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little scary.

[Ulvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids insisted on 5 stars rating. They continue loving the story and illustrations. For me this part was more like 4 stars. The story is getting also quite dark.

[Delilah Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like dark tricks they they do magic.And i want to do magic some day in my life.
A they have animals and they work out fights.

[Madi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series sooo much!!!

[Erietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the book
Sita's really really cute
I think it passes sooo nice messages to kids when reading this kind of books
I would def recommend to any 6-7+ kid

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

My girl is loving this series. I will say this one got a little intense and I worried she might get scared (she’s 9) but she didn’t! She loves trying to guess what will happen next!

[Jessica Tibbitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best one yet. Lots of fun mystery and suspense. My 8 year old now wants a pet fox... :)

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter loved this one and couldn't wait to read it each night!

[Book Gannet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maia and her friends return with a final battle against their dark magic enemy. The troubles have been building all series, but not only do we finally find out who has been making such mischief, the Star Friends themselves come under threat in their toughest challenge yet.

Once again, Lucy Fleming’s gorgeous illustrations are a perfect match for Linda Chapman’s tale as Maia and co struggle against short tempers and bad moods that threaten their friendship even before they confront their enemy. But will they have enough belief in themselves, their powers and their friendship to win through?

For fans of the series, this is the most exciting book yet as the mystery is finally solved and the team must work together to save their Star Friends and themselves. But is this truly the end for Maia and her friends? I hope not, as this fun little team seem like they still have plenty of stories to tell.

(ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.)

[Cute Rabbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing and it is like the 3rd or 4th time I’m reading it.I couldn’t find this in my public library so I had to search for a free copy online and that’s how I got to read this book for the 1st time and it was literally worth it.
In this book we see maia going to see auntie mabel where she talks about book 3 of star friends.Auntie mabel is shocked and gives maia some puppet decoration she is going to sell at the Christmas fayre.She gives four so she can give some to her friends.She also gives maia and seeing stone to help her to see in the future.Lottie and Ionie work together to go to the flower store to see who gave the gnome and they get nowhere to finding who put the shades in the wish gnome.
The next day maia feels angry and annoyed and she hears about mrs patels dog gone missing.Whens she looks with her seeing magic she just sees the dog in snow.This makes her confused.In the book maia starts to look in the stone for looking into the past.She and her friends also argue a lot andf the animals thinks its to do with a shade.
The next day sita goes to auntie mabvels house and maia calls in to only find no sita she is very surprised and auntie Mabel says that she didn't come and maia notices the snow globe with the missing patels dog and she finally realises that the person conjuring shades was Auntie mabel who now has an evil plan.She locks maia with sita and has the dark stone which can do very bad magic.The girls work together and finally are able to defeat auntie Mabel and are also able to make sure she forgets everything about magic

[book_opolis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die vier Sternenfreunde Sita, Maja, Lottie und Leonie sind auf der Suche nach der Person, die für die dunkle Magie in der Nachbarschaft verantwortlich ist. Dabei unterstützen sie ihre vier Sternenfreunde, der Fuchs Jazinto, die Wildkatze Saruma, das Eichhörnchen Larix und das Reh namens Rosa. Zu dem ganzen verschwindet auch noch plötzlich der Hund Holly und die Mädchen machen sich auf die Suche, hat vielleicht die Personen die für die dunkle Magie verantwortlich ist was damit zu tun. Außerdem sind plötzlich die Freundinnen ziemlich angespannt und fangen sich an zu streiten. Ob die Magie der Mädchen ausreicht die Probleme zu lösen.⠀
⠀
Eine super süße und magische Geschichte, die viele tolle Werte vermittelt, die Liebe zu Tieren und die Magie der Freundschaft. Das die Mädchen trotz ihrer Streitereien, sich immer wieder versöhnen und zusammenhalten fand ich super. Die Mädchen arbeiten ständig an ihren Kräften, was zeigt das man durch Willen und Ausdauer alles erreichen kann und trotz kleiner Rückschläge nicht aufgeben sollte. Die kleinen Illustrationen sind wunderschön und geben dem Buch das Runde. Der Schreibstil ist rasant und einfach verständlich, was für ein Kinderbuch super ist, so bleibt es spannend und lässt sich super leicht lesen.

[Fantastiske Familie Bøger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sanne, Maja, Inger og Lotte er bedste venner. Sammen bekæmper de skyggeånder. Sannes stjernedyr er en hjort som hedder Pil. Majas er en Ræv som hedder Bregne. Ingers er en kat som hedder Skovsyre og Lottes er et egern som hedder Enebær. 

På et tidspunkt sker der en masse ting og de finder ud af, at Maren er ond og har en mørk krystal som hun bruger til alle mulige onde ting. Maren fanger fx deres stjernedyr i en glaskugle.

Jeg kan godt lide bogen fordi at den handler om magidyr der kan tale. Det er også spændende at læse en historie om at nogen man stoler på kan svigte en.

-Sarah 10 år

[fluesterseiten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meine Rezension : https://www.instagram.com/p/B4iAho2oC...