Rose Alice Anders’ father is convinced she’ll be the greatest collector of magic their community has ever seen. Right now, that distinction belongs to him. Magic gathering only happens on New Year’s Day, and never until one turns 12. As Rose’s first New Year’s Day gathering approaches, she’s feeling uneasy. Her dad has always assured her she’s destined for greatness and says that magic comes to those who deserve it, but what if isn’t true, or isn’t her? It doesn’t help that her best friend, Ginger, is spending less and less time with Rose and more with newcomer Maddy. Rose, who is white, vacillates between anxiousness and anger, her unease only increasing in moments that gradually reveal another dimension of life with her dad: He’s not only full of confidence, he has a temper, and he takes his anger out on those around him, usually her mom. Rose and her older brother Lyle, with whom she is close, have learned coping mechanisms and quiet ways of supporting each other, but they never actually talk about what sometimes happens inside their home. Only in the aftermath of a New Year’s Day full of surprising revelations does it become one of a number of truths that can no longer be buried or ignored. Magic and metaphor both have their place in a novel that examines the secrets and subterfuge surrounding domestic violence and the cycle of abuse in an appealing and affecting story that moves toward hope and healing. (Ages 8-12)