Tuesdays at the Castle

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George takes place in a magical castle that is constantly changing.  The castle creates, changes and moves rooms and passageways based on how it feels about the people inside.  Princess Celie has always loved the castle and it's changes and has been slowly making an atlas mapping out the castle.  When her parents leave to pick her brother up from wizard school a new tower appears that only Celie can find.  They then go missing and are presumed dead and a prince from a near by kingdom is trying to wrangle himself in control of the kingdom and Celie must use her knowledge of the kingdom to save the day.

This is a delightful fairy tale like story filled with royalty, political intrigue and a magic castle.  I found myself engrossed in the story and rooting for Celie,her siblings and the castle as they try to save their castle and kingdom from those that want to take over.  I loved this book and finished it quickly and was enchanted by the magical castle.

Appropriateness:  There is nothing objectionable in this book.  It is written for the middle grade reader (9-12) and is romance free (it is interesting enough for older readers however the main character is 11).  It would make a fantastic read aloud for kids on the younger end of the spectrum.  The lexile for George's other middle grade books are around 850 with a grade level equivalent of 5.7 making this a good book for advanced readers or to use as a read aloud.

Review copy obtained from amazon vine