So You Want to Be a Wizard: The First Book in the Young Wizards Series

When 13-year-old Nita has to escape from some bullies, she retreats to her home away from home - the public library. While examining the shelves one book literally seems to grab her hand; its title is SO YOU WANT TO BE A WIZARD. Intrigued by such a title she checks the book out, and finds that it is indeed an introductory book to wizardry. However, this new knowledge presents Nita with a good deal of responsibilities. Finding another new wizard in the form of 11-year-old Kit, the two set out an adventure that takes them to an alternate Earth, teams them with a creature of most unearthly form and abilities, and pits them against an evil godling and all his hellish minions. Can they win, and what will be the cost? Though this book is listed as a juvenile book, its story is rich enough to entertain just about any reader. There is very little humor in this book; the action is serious and non-stop. This is a great book, with no sex or anything else a parent need worry about. I recommend this book wholeheartedly!

This is THE Wizardry book -- Diane was doing Young Wizards way before JK Rowling even thought of ol' HP, and Diane does it better. Nita is a loner, an outsider, a smart, lonely bookworm who gets snagged by the Powers That Be to be a Wizard -- we're not talking cutesy punny-spells ala' HP, we're talking a real Wizard, one who vows to protect & serve Life. Nita doesn't leave the "real" world behind; she's now one of those vowed to protect it from the Lone Power (who invented Death). These books are great mind-stretching, thinking reads, without ever becoming preachy. I fell in love with this book while in high school, and now I'm 37 years old and still eagerly waiting for Diane to write more of the series.

I have read almost every fantasy and sci-fi book that I can find and this was one of the best. It's about a girl named Nita (Juanita) who's having a hard time at school and takes refuge in the library to avoid getting clobbered. There she finds a book titled 'so you want to be a wizard' that tells her about her potential to be a one. She thinks it's all a joke but she reads it anyway. Nita, a hispanic boy named Kit, and a white hole named Fred that they picked up try to open a world gate to get Nita's pen back and have their plans go horribly wrong. Flung into a different dimension for fiddling with the world gate they have to battle the Lone Power and his oddly deranged machines to escape. I'm in 7th grade and I have lent this book to all my friends and even the ones who don't like to read love it. If you like fantasy and/or science fiction then this is definetly the book to read.

Diane Duane, a great science-fiction writer and author of many Star Trek books, writes an original and special tale of magic and wizardry, which seems less like magic than like magical science. Because of the eerie scenery, this may not appeal to some Harry Potter-type readers.Nita is a very ordinary kid who is constantly kicked around by the snobby local bullies. To escape them, she heads for the library, and finds a book called "So You Want To Be a Wizard." Thinking it's a joke, Nita checks out the book and goes home to read it. Within days, she's and her new friend Kit are both wizards, and off on a genuinely frightening adventure, to where trees tell stories and cars rove like packs of wolves.Perhaps the best character is a tiny white hole nicknamed Fred. The funniest scene in the book is when he gets the hiccups...Manhatten never seemed to be appealing until I read this book, where it hides an alternate world that cannot be described in one of these reviews. Also hidden away is a demonic villain whose evil is not evident when you first see him. Fred's description of him--"starsnuffer"--sounds a bit silly, but it's accurate.Perhaps the best aspect of this book is that the wizards in it are not simply wizards because they can and because they want to be. The wizards have an integral part in keeping the universe ticking, responsibilities, and pressure to keep doing so. They don't do it for power--they do it because they are good people. This different view is an integral part of the book, that makes it stand apart from much of the kid's fantasy out there.This book cannot be fully absorbed in one sitting--take the time to savor it, and be sure to reread it. It's that good!

"So You Want To Be A Wizard" is the beginning of an exciting and tantalizing series where wizardry and life in the city are a little too close for comfort. Nita, an intelligent but physically unendowed 13-year-old, finds refuge in the kid's section of the library after a particularly bad beating by a group of school bullies - and finds a book that not only tells her that there *is* magic but how to get it, why to get it, and how to use it.Kit, a 12-year-old Hispanic boy with school troubles similar to hers, teams up with her in a wizardly Ordeal to gain their powers. Shifted "sideways" into an alternate Manhattan, they discover both their wizardly talents and find friends in each other.I originally read first High Wizardry (the last books in the series), then Deep Wizardry (the second book) and then this, before going on to A Wizard Abroad. I also enjoyed her Feline Wizards series, of which only two books are in print so far. However, other YA readers may not: they are on an adult reading level and you need to appreciate this.I also recommend other books (most of these are fantasy) by Patricia Wrede (her Dragons series, "Dealing with Dragons", "Talking with Dragons", etc), the Unicorn series by Tamora Pierce ("Black Unicorn", "Red Unicorn"), the "Hero and the Crown" and "The Blue Sword" by Robin McKinley.All of these books, including (especially!) So You Want To Be A Wizard have strong female protagonists. I am, after all, a 13-year-old girl and really dislike the knight-in-shining-armour- rescues-the-damsel-in-distress stuff. I believe you will really enjoy So You Want to Be A Wizard. Either buy it here or ask for it at a library. Interlibrary Loan works really well!Enjoy!