Sweet story of a girl who discovers she is a witch and is swept off to witch school. Irritated that her budding summer career as a YouTube influencer is disrupted, and harassed by wealthier legacy witches, Hasani eventually learns to accept herself, her powers, her anger at her divorcing parents and the power of her new friendships. Happy to have this creative story of Creole magic.

4 solid stars

A sweet and fun book about a school for witches in Louisiana.
Hasani starts her summer only concerned about her youtube makeup channel and her parents' separation. After failing to keep an emotional outburst to herself, and a bunch of flowers and weeds growing all over a major bridge, a finishing school for young witches offers her a spot in their summer program.
This is a great summer witch story - not scary, and the witchcraft is so colorful! I will definitely recommend it to middle grade readers who want something a bit sunnier than the traditional witch/wizard series. So much sweet black girl magic - great representation! There are some bullying instances discussed, as well as how social media plays into online bullying (particularly youtube and instagram) which offers a good teachable moment for young internet users.

Ok, but my MG self is still squealing about this book, so give me a second to collect my thoughts.

(Collects thoughts.)

Marti Dumas has written a magic, lush series-starter with WILDSEED WITCH, and I literally don't know where to begin listing all the things I adored! Not only is Hasani's voice PERFECT and loveable, but the writing itself just sang with magic. Welcome to the witch school that just screams "MAKE ME INTO A MOVIE" with all it's fantastic visuals (flowers everywhere! swans that tell the time! charms! kittens!), oozing girly goodness and masking a more serious conversation about access, heritage, and our ability to write our futures. WILDSEED WITCH does this balancing between pretty & serious fantastically throughout, with tying together a fresh new magic system with real-world problems like divorce, bullying, and the double-edged power of social media. Hasani goes through plenty of struggles as she comes into her own as a witch, but she never loses her charm (wink wink).

This is an atmospheric, richly imagined adventure with a fully BIPOC cast and addictive writing. Want to meet a Youtuber witch who gets recruited to a secret Louisiana magic school where magic actually blossoms from every crack? Read WILDSEED WITCH!

This is an adorable book for young readers (middle school age) that want an introduction to magic! Absolutely love and would recommend! I look forward to reading the next one.

I think this book is going to be such an important read for so many young girls. In WILDSEED WITCH we follow Hasani as she learns she's a witch, attends Les Belles Demoiselles charm school for young witches, and works through the trials of finally learning who she is at a later age than all the other witches at her charm school.

This is a lush, atmospheric summer camp/magic school setting, with a character driven story at its core. Hasani is GOING THROUGH IT in this book, and she definitely learns the hard way! She's imperfect and messy at times, and that makes this story and what she's going through both at home and at school (and online) that much more meaningful.

This is a FULL BIPOC cast, with themes of identity, friendship, growth, privilege, and morality. Hasani really and truly develops over the length of this book, despite so many tribulations.

My one drawback to this is it felt a bit unbalanced. We didn't get to enjoy very much of the charm school or Hasani's new-found identity as a witch. This is definitely a story focused on character development and growth and Hasani really goes through it (for good reason! and it's so well done) but I would have loved to see more moments of just JOY. And I think this setting and her newly-discovered powers could really lead to more joyful moments in a very natural way, and maybe we'll get to see more of that in the upcoming books in this series.

Overall. I recommend this book and can't wait to see where this series goes!

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Amulet books for an advanced e-reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.