RUFUS AND MAGIC RUN AMOK

Rufus Breckenridge is an ordinary ten-year-old with a best friend and a great comic book collection. He is not a witch like his mother, aunt and grandmother. Witches take lessons to learn how to control their magical powers so they can use them to help other people. Where's the fun in that? Besides, witches are weird. At least that's what lots of people think.

When Big Douggie, the school bully, chases Rufus home, Rufus makes him do a double backflip. He decides to keep his new-found magical powers a secret. But the more spells Rufus casts, the stronger his magic grows. Soon Rufus's magic is running amok!

. . .

“Spirited, well-crafted characters and silly situations conspire to chronicle the turning point for a boy who just wants to be ordinary. Marilyn Levinson’s Rufus and Magic Run Amok takes the awkwardness of being 10 years old and fantastically ramps it up. It’s a fast-moving fantasy that will have young readers rooting for Rufus to not be a witch—and then magically change their minds.”  

~ Micki Bare, author of the award-winning middle grade novel

Society of the Sentinelia

“Marilyn Levinson beautifully captures the ten-year-old voice of Rufus, who grapples with the unwanted complications of discovering he’s inherited his family’s magical abilities. When he accidentally turns on the school’s sprinkling system and causes his classroom window to be broken, he realizes he needs his mom’s lessons on how to responsibly manage his magical gifts. But Rufus figures out something else really important. When he quashes his own fears and trusts himself, he doesn’t need magic to stand up to a bully—or even to catch a fly ball and hit a home run.” 

~ Lynn Slaughter, author of Missed Cue and Deadly Setup