Sternenfreunde - Maja und die Schattenmagie: Magisch-realistische Reihe für Mädchen ab 8 von der »Sternenschweif«-Bestsellerautorin

Star Friends #5

by Linda Chapman

Do you believe in magic? Maia and her friends do! And when they meet the Star Animals, a whole world of magical adventure unfolds. Lottie and her star animal, a squirrel called Juniper, must use their special powers to stop the forces of dark magic. Ever since Maia and her friends stopped Auntie Mabel from using dark magic to cause trouble in the small seaside village of Westcombe, life has been peaceful for the girls and their Star Animals. But it seems that peace was only temporary and the girls are going to have to use all their Star Magic skills to battle against the latest threat... 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, Chapter Books, Middle Grade

Hardcover

Published April 27, 2020

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

[Kavya Chavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked that Maia and her friends worked together to save their families from getting crazy

[Swara Chavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved the fox and maia

[Alana Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing! My favorite character is Bracken and Sita. I love wolves but even though Bracken is a fox I still like him.
Spoilers!
Three shades are in three dream catchers! This is what happens.... So a new girl named Lizzie starts school at the star friend's school. Violet doesn't like Lizzie at all. But Mia wants to give her a chance. Then Lizzie invites Mia and Lexi over to her house for a play date. Mia decides to come, even though there is more important things to do. Lizzie shows them around her house, does makeup, does hair, and eats pizza while watching a movie. But during that time, Lizzie and Sadie and Tara start talking about Sita. "Low ponytails are babyish." "Her clothes is so old and ugly." And Mia decides that she hates Lizzie. But also during that time, Lizzie gives them all dream catchers. Mia, Lexi and Sadie get pink and green ones. But it turns out that they have shades in them! Will the star friends be able to defeat three shades?

[Othy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to read this series on the recommendation of my 9-year old daughter who loves the books. This volume is the same as the others: fun magic and good friends. There is a bit of violence in this one, with the Shade attacking one of the girls, but the scene ends without the girls retaliating nonviolently, which I appreciate.

[Jada Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing I hope I can get the 6th one😊🤔

[Cute Rabbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book begins with Maia and her friends in the woods where they see that many of the plants look like they are dying .When Maia checks what happened to the clearing using her magic she sees someone doing dark magic .She goes past the new persons house on her way home who has moved into the house that was on sale her name is Esther.
The friends go to the new shop fairy tales and see many magical objects.Maia goes home and talks to bracken about the clearing.The next day the new girl essie who is the daughter of Esther comes to school.Maia introduces her to her friends.The friends go to maias house to think of a plan .They go to the new shop to find more clues & take sorrel with them to see if she can smell the shades
Esther comes round to maias to ask if Maia can come and see Essie the next day after school.Maia doesn’t like it & receives a dream catcher from fairytales as a gift from Essie.
Maia doesn’t want to be friends with Essie.They go to the clearing and it’s worse than last time.They decide to go to the beach as it stinks of shades.Then they see the owner of fairytales .
Maia goes home and her father is really interested in the quiz and her mum is wanting to go running even though she hates it.Her parents start to act weirdly& then the friends fall out with lottie due to them thinking that lottie was going round to Essies house.
They go to the sculpture competition & find that Alice the owner of fairytales has nothing to do with the dark magic they shadow Tavel to lotties house and they are able to find out that the shades are in the dream catchers & quickly return them back into the shadows.
The friends go to the copper kettle as a treat!😝

[Tanpopo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nach einer kurzen Atempause ereignen sich neue mysteriöse Vorfälle.
Zum einen gehen die Pflanzen auf der Lichtung der Sternenfreunde ein und schnell ist den Mädchen klar, dass dunkle Magie wieder im Spiel ist. Und bei ihren Ermittlungen stoßen die Freundinnen auf weitere Vorfälle.
Haben diese etwa mit dem neuen Laden von Alice zu tun, in dem man auch Kristalle und Traumfänger kaufen kann?
Zudem wird die Freundschaft der Mädchen auf die Probe gestellt, als eine neue Familie in das ehemalige Haus von Majas Großmutter zieht und Lottie sich mit der neuen Mitschülerin Essie anfreundet.

Das Abenteuer geht also weiter. Klar die Mädchen müssen wieder einmal herausfinden, wer sich im Ort mit dunkler Magie beschäftigt und es ist abzusehen, dass die ersten Ermittlungen wohl nicht gleich zum Ziel führen werden. Aber genau das macht ja den jungen Leserinnen solcher Reihen Spaß.
Ich fand in diesem Band die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema Freundschaft sehr gelungen. Die Mädchen gehen in die vierte Klasse und es entwickeln sich zunehmend auch unterschiedliche Interessen. Natürlich bleibt die Beschäftigung mit Magie und ihren Sternentieren der Mittelpunkt des Interesses der Mädchen. Doch Lotti zeigt auch ganz alterstypische Interessen, wie das Abhängen mit anderen Mädchen und sich über Jungs, Filme und ähnliche Themen austauschen. Das neu auftauchende Mädchen Essi, dass ein „Bilderbuchbeispiel“ eines Trendsetters ist bietet Lotti genau das. Vor allem Maja und Leonie können sich gar nicht damit abfinden, dass Lotti dem oberflächlichen Gehabe etwas abgewinnen kann. Und so kommt es zu Konflikten in der kleinen Gruppe.
Da dieses Thema früher oder später einmal jedes Mädchen betrifft, ist es schön, dass es auch in dieser Reihe behandelt wird.

Generell ist das Buch wieder toll illustriert. Und auch in Bezug auf Länge der Kapitel und Schreibstil ist der Band der bisherigen Reihe treu geblieben, so dass Kinder ab 8 Jahren eigentlich wenig Probleme beim Lesen haben sollten.

Dieses Mal erhält das Buch von mir eine besondere Leseempfehlung, da es nicht nur um eine Geschichte voller Fantasie geht.

[Justine Laismith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took up the GMGR group Alphabet reading challenge last year. It was towards the end of the year and the letter N was one of the few letters I had not managed to fill. So I went to the local library to scour MG books beginning with N and Night Shade was there. But I did not manage to read this before the year ended. So here we are.

I hadn't realised that this was book 5 of a series. That explained why the the characters were introduced so quickly. I was confused with the several names thrown at me at the start; who was who and whose mother was whose. Nonetheless the book was short enough that I flipped quite easily back to the page introducing the characters. It would not have been as easy on a thicker book.

Although the main characters are in Year 6 (ie 11-12 years) this book is aimed for a younger middle grader. The illustrations are beautiful and will appeal. The portrayal of the characters for this reading age group is perfect. It's not just about the maturity of the girls and what they say or how they behave, but also all the little things that girls of this age are into, like buying trinkets in a shop or going to various activities outside school such as music, dancing, swimming and gymnastics.

If I had one criticism, it would be the stereotyping of 11/12-year-old girls to be into boys. I would have preferred to have this left out. For children 7-9 years reading up, there is plenty of time in the future for them read about romance.

Overall I enjoyed this read.

[Efox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holiday dreams come true, thanks to my brother and our next door neighbor, and we now have six more Star Friends books to read. Kicking off with this book which starts several months after the events of Dark Tricks, unlike the previous four which were immediately following up. This time someone is using dark magic in the forest where the girls met their star animals, and this time the disruptive and horrible shades are affecting the adults in town!

Lots of good lessons about friendship, navigating the challenges of when new people move in and disrupt the friend group, as well as jumping to incorrect assumptions (even though it totally seems like the source of the dark magic could be the new lady in town). I appreciate how engaged my kids are with these books. They love trying to put forward theories about who might be doing the bad stuff and why they might be. I am also happy to report that my niece is so in love with these books she asked Santa to bring her the entire series so she would never have to take it back to the library. So great, highly recommend.

[Mary Pimbblet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the start of a new story arc for the Star Friends, they've solved the previous dark magic problems, but now there's a new one. It's still an enjoyable read, my daughter loves trying to guess who is doing the dark magic. There are new characters introduced to change the dynamics of the Star Friends relationships, and its all done really well.
A little scary and disturbing at times, but nothing extreme. This is a really great little series for children gaining confidence in reading.

[Erietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book
Here I think it's the one everybody really understands how important strong bonds and connections in friendships are
Especially when it comes to teamwork building trust is something special

[Ashlynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still very cute! And I like how the main 4 are having to consider the actions and behaviors of others. They need to face some moral decisions and it is presented in a way that is easy to grasp for children.

[Drakesax · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book about Mia is radical. I love love love love Mia and Bracken. Great story that I can’t give spoilers too cause it was too good.

[Hm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good

[Madi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love this series so so so much!!! :)

[Salma]

Very good

[Heeva Rohani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t believe somebody is making potions with dark magic. And its in their special forest that they meet their star animals.

[Caitlin Gilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to my 6 year old. Here is her review: There was a scary part. There was magic. I liked the animals.

[Ulvi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is getting a bit repetitive but kids still love it.

[Joanne Slazyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book with a simple plot and engaging characters. A little heavy on the dialogue, but a great read book for 7-9 year olds.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only reason I have read the book is because I think that it’s a magical book and I love magical books because they are all magical and the only time I’ve read one and thought it is boring is when I read the worst witch series.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the plots in this Star Friends series titles are a bit repetitive and predictable, many readers in third or fourth grade will enjoy them because the characters are a lot like them. Although the four friends--Mia, Lexi, Violet, and Sita--all have magical gifts and can commune with their special animals, they also face some of the same challenges many girls do. For instance, Lexi enjoys spending time with Lizzie, a new girl whose family has recently moved to town, while Mia doesn't. Tired of talking about boys and clothing instead of more important matters when she's around Lizzie, Mia tells Lexi she must choose between her new friend and her old ones. The girls have noticed that several of the adults in their town are behaving rather oddly, and they figure that behavior must be related to a Shade or maybe several of them. But where are these Shades, and how did they find their way into the families' homes? It's up to the girls to sort this out, and they do so, with a little bit of magical powers. This is the fifth book in the series, and the girls are in fifth grade.