Rating: 
Summary: A great book for any fantasy reader
Review: This is a very good book that deals with problems a lot of kids have, such as being picked on and left out, even if the main focus was fantasy. Being an avid reader of fantasy, I have read all the old cleshaes, but this book was in a league all it's own. The story is about thirteen year old Nita, who goes into a library to hide from bullies, and comes across a training book on how to be a wizard. After reading through it, she discovers that she has many of the qualifications, so she decides to give it a shot, though she suspects some sort of prank. In her exploriations, she meets up with Kit, a twelve year old boy in basicly the same situation as her, and they decide to team up and be partner wizards. As I read this book, I found myself likeing it more and more, as I enjoyed the sense of magic, and identified strongly with the main character. Though some of the magic spells they were doing got a little bit tedious, the book was generaly very exiting and well written with somewhat of a sad ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Set aside Harry Potter. . . This story is way better!!
Review: I first heard of this book from one of my friends who had started reading it, so i decided that it I should read the story to, because I was into the Harry Potter Books and I love Fantasy based stories.One of the reasons I liked the story so much was because it was written in a way that was so different than Harry Potter... Instead of the author using ideas like Unicorns and dragons She makes up her own mythical creatures that are so much more interesting and wonderous than say a werewolf or unicorn. The story brings the characters into a dark manhatten with trouble and even some terror around every corner as they try to battle their way against the sinister and evil lone power. So set aside Harry Potter...This story is way better!!(Not that Harry Potter books are no good but[in fact they're great, yet Harry Potter is a close second behind this one]this story is much more exciting) :-)
Rating:
Summary: an old favorite
Review: I first came across this book in the Portland Public Library in almost the same fashion Nita finds the book that opens the door to her beoming a wizard. I was myself a voracious reader, and the aspect of this book that most affected me was the implication that words themselves have the power to change reality. A thoroughly enjoyable read that I have returned to again and again over the years.
Rating: 
Summary: So You Want to Be A Wizard
Review: I have to say i found this book very boring and lost interest right away, but i hope other kids have better luck with this book than i did.
Rating:
Summary: how many people do you know that can be a wizard?
Review: Diane Duane is a brilliant writer who spins a story like a thread. In "so you want to be a wizard" nita and kit are believable characters, even though they are wizards. this book was wonderfully thought out and very good. my friend suggested the series and we just went to the bookstore and got it. i was finished within the next day. if this could get any better i would be surprised. when i started the prologue, i was immediately hooked on this writer. i think that anybody who liked any one of the harry potter books (which i also inhaled), i suggest that they read this book. I really liked nita's reaction to the "so you want to be a wizard" book. i think that that is how i would react as well. fred was funny and also brave. if there is a character like him in all of the books, then i think they will all be very,very good. i also liked how nita could think so clearly in the face of danger. i really liked this book and think that anybody into fantasy or magic should get this book any way you can. if there is another book like this in the country, i want to find out what it is.
Rating:
Summary: this is book is so cool- i couldn't put it down
Review: this book is so cool. i love to read and am a harry potter fan. I can't wait for #5 to come out and i was wondering what else i could read until then. my librarian said i should read this book. i did and i loved it! my favorite in the series so far is deep wizardry. right now, i'm reading high wizardry. i love this series. they are a great mix of normal life, sci-fi, and fantasy. and the best part is-when you read these books, you feel that this could happen to you!
Rating:
Summary: A spellbinding wizard trip
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: It's no Harry Potter
Review: If you're looking for something to hold you over until the next book in the Harry Potter series, don't look here. As a writer of fantasy, Diane Duane makes an excellent science fiction author. If you consider sentient marble-sized galaxies, ferocious living helicopters and predatory automobiles the staple for a book about magic and wizardry, then by all means get yourself a copy. Otherwise, check out some of the more traditional fare, like The Magician's Nephew (or the other books in The Chronicles of Narnia series) by C.S. Lewis, or two shining stars by Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time, and Many Waters.
Rating:
Summary: Quite Interesting
Review: This book really got me hooked on Diane Duane. My mom works at a library and she came home with this book. I looked at it and passed immediate judgement: I didn't think it would be to good of a book; but having nothing better to do, I picked it up and could not (and did not!) put it down until I was finished. After that I begged to go to the bookstore so I could get the others, and now it's one of my favorite series books (I might add that there's another one coming out: The Wizard's Deliema). In the book you first meet Nita, who's running from a lot of bullies that are out to get her. Luckily, the library is open late on saturdays and she finds sancuary in there. She doesn't even really notice the book, the book notices her! It seems to (as she puts it) snag her hand. She takes the book home, thinking it's a jest and starts to read it, finding out that Wizardry is much more than just a fairy tale. A bit later when she wants to start her first bit of magic in her special place (a glave), the trees tell her that there is someone else practicing magic. There she stumbles upon her partner-to-be, Kit, and they manage to preform their first bit of spell work together, unfortuately, things go a bit awry... I strongly suggest anyone who likes fantasy read these books, they are terrific, and although I can't guarantee it will be a page turner for you in particular, I'll say it was for me and I'll bet it will be for SOME of you out there!
Rating:
Summary: Nita and Kit have quite a lot to do!
Review: Nita's a smart bookworm that constantly gets in trouble with the school bully's becasue she refuses to fight back. But when she hides out in the school library one day she finds a strange book called "So you Want to Be a Wizard." At first she thinks of it as a joke, she has no idea that it will change her life! So when she reads about it she's immeaditallly thrown into her ordeal with Kit, another new wizard. If she succedes she will save the world as we know it, but if she fails... Let's just hope that failing is not an option. This was a good start to Duane's wizardry. I can actually relate to Nita! If you loved reading the tales of Harry Potter you'll love this book!
| 
