A Girl's Guide to Love and Magic by Debbie Rigaud

Welcome Back, Booklover! We are in the dog days of summer and the kids will be going back to school in a couple of weeks if they haven't started already. So A Girl's Guide to Love and Magic drops at the perfect time as the main character Cecily is starting another school year and Labor Day marks the last big celebration to end summer.

Labor Day is also Cecily's birthday and she's so excited for the West Indian Day Parade. She's got the cutest outfit picked out to match her best friend. Best of all, her influencer auntie is interviewing one of her favorite artists, Papash. The day seems to good to be true and then her aunt ends up possessed by a spirit named Ezru. Cecily enlists the help of her friend Renee and her crush as they go on an adventure around Brooklyn gathering items needed to cast the spirit out of Tati Mimose in time for her big interview.

As a Haitian-American Cecily is navigating her connection to vodou. Her aunt is a priestess but her mother wants to keep her away from it. Her best friend who is Trinidadian also has some unsure feelings about it. This book does a great job exploring all the feelings towards what is a taboo subject in Caribbean culture. Some authors might've taken the vodou concept and spun into a fantasy tale but Debbie Rigaud plays it straight. Which I appreciated because even though it seems a little magic it's not considered magic in the culture. And I like that she also used comparisons to Catholicism showing how rituals within the Catholic church are considered acceptable while similar rituals in vodou are looked down on.

There's also feelings Caribbean American children have to unpack about their culture. Especially ones who've never visited the islands or have no visited in a long time. And this book also addresses that pride for the culture while also feeling a disconnect in some ways. And I love how the older people in the community were involved in this story. Every island has their own version of Carnival and while this book touched on a few of those it also showcased the unique way they come together in Brooklyn to keep traditions alive for the next generation. And though it looks much different from the carnivals of yester-year the heart is still there.

Overall this was a fast-paced read about family, faith, friendship, and first crushes. There's a lot to love about this story especially for the Caribbean American girls who are sure to see pieces of themselves, friends, and family sprinkled throughout the story.