The Candy Shop War (2007) is a children’s fantasy novel by Brandon Mull about Nate, and his friends, tomboyish Summer, cool Trevor, and smart Paul (who everyone calls Pigeon, due to an incident in third grade), are given magic candy by Belinda White, the owner of a new candy and ice cream shop, but the fun turns sour when she uses their trust to do terrible things, and they have to go to John Dart, an agent that works against bad magicians, and Sebastian, another candy shop owner, but a good magician, unlike Mrs. White.

I first read The Candy Shop War a long time ago, and it’s been well read ever since– in fact, the front cover of it fell off. None of the pages though, and that’s all that matters. This book makes you feel like a kid, excited about all the special candy and its powers. It makes you want to run to a candy shop right away, and buy the lot of it. At first, anyways.

I don’t think I read the plot description of this book before I first read it, because I remember the whole Mrs. White thing really throwing me through a loop. There’s a couple of other plot surprises, though. It’s one of my favorite one of Brandon Mull’s books.

I will say, though, that I didn’t like the sequel all that much. It was alright, of course, but it had this whole magical arcade with pins built into it, and it almost felt like it was set in a differently world, just with the same characters. I tend to think of The Candy Shop War as just a stand alone novel.

These kids have a really cute friendship, and I especially like Summer. She’s kinda awesome. This book also has plenty of action scenes,  but it’s really a very safe book. No goryness, no cussing, no kissing, just good ol’ friendship and magical candy.

John Dart’s a pretty crazy character. I’ve gotta say, it’s been a while since I’ve read this book. Any middle grade book, really, since my English teacher’s been keeping me so busy with vaguely boring reading material. What I mean to say,  is that I don’t quite remember if I liked him or not, but I’m pretty sure I did.

I really did like the creativity of the different types of candy. Müll didn’t just go Classic flying, super strength, talking to animals. I mean, he had those, but he also came up with some really awesome ideas for the candy that are powers I would love to try out.

Also, this book has an excellent ending.

I’d like to end by saying that the reason that I am joining the MMGM group on the second week of the year, instead of on the first, is because I did one last week, but accidentally mistyped Shannon Messengwr’s email. Oops. Anyways, if you’d like to read that one, on Lost in Lexicon, by Pendred Noyce, just scroll down to my previous post and enjoy! Have a great week!