I like to think that i read broadly. That I don't let things like who or what the author is limit my choices. That I don't worry about whether I'm the intended audience. That if it's in the YA section or the children's section or if the book store I'm still going to be open to reading it. In fact if its got more pictures then words I'm like to enjoy it more then not. That's what I like to believe about myself. It's hard to know if it's true. There's a lot out there to read and I always feel like I'm way behind even in reading the big hits of the year. So when I know that I'm passed something that is well outside the range of things I usually read it's a true blessing.

That's this book. "So You Want to Be a Wizard" is a middle grade book that stretches itself in and around the label to make itself at home in anyone's hands. With a story that is at once very simple and yet has the subtle world building to rival any conventional fantasy book it's one that I loved instantly. The fantasy elements that come out of the vague boundary world that children of a certain age live in. Where everyday objects that drift between kid and not kid take on mystery that adults can only smile at. Yet the story never feels safe. There are elements that genuinely terrify but from a purely human place the defies age.

It's a book i wish i had found when it was first released. I wish this was sitting down at the bottom of my foundation in fantasy, and it feels bittersweet that I am only seeing it now that I've got my foundation all filled out. If only because learning is hard for adults, as the story works hard to show. I wish I'd had the opportunity to revel in this as a child having it read to me. Finding it again in my youth to read myself. Finding it again to read now as a classic.

So You Want to Be a Wizard gets four stars out of five.