In the first chapter of\u00c2\u00a0The Wizard<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma<\/i>, Nita tries to find out what \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d really is after her summer in Ireland. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ah, this chapter is already a delight, cousins! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fun to see how much more quickly Duane settles into this story without having to rely on explaining much to the reader. At the same time, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that this chapter\u00c2\u00a0must<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0rely on the events in\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to have the emotional weight that Duane wants it to carry. \u00c2\u00a0It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only after one surreal adventure after another that Nita tries to settle down. But\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0she?<\/p>\n
Normal<\/b><\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a funny word, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Normal is\u00c2\u00a0always<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0going to be relative. To people, to places, to times, to cultures, to societies. In the opening scene of\u00c2\u00a0The Wizard<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma<\/i>, Duane challenges the notion of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relative by presenting us with a conversation that, to us, is utterly unreal. It seems fantastical and silly and over-the-top because Nita and her mother discuss wizardry so casually. At the same time, as readers of this series, it is utterly normal to us, perhaps one of the most \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d moments in the series thus far. What other book could open like this, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d accept it completely?<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Honey, have you seen your sister?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on Jupiter, Mom.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n There was no immediate response to this piece of news. Sitting at a dining-room table covered with notebooks, a few schoolbooks, and one book that had less to do with school than the others, Nita Callahan glanced over her shoulder just in time to catch the sight of her mother looking at the ceiling with an expression that said,\u00c2\u00a0What have I done to deserve this?<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n We know how that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible; we understand why Nita would state this without grandeur or celebration or awe; we get why Betty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response is an inward groan, a slight annoyance at this turn of events. Duane barely acknowledges the logistics of Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trip to Europa because\u00c2\u00a0this is the new normal<\/i>. Even for this series so far, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shift, since Betty is far more inquisitive about wizardry than we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to seeing. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s accepted that it exists and that her daughters are wizards, so now, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the understanding period. She just wants to\u00c2\u00a0get<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0what her daughters are so wrapped up in, rather than fight them on it.<\/p>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a shift for Nita, too: high school! Ah, the comfort of being able to easily complete work, destroyed over the course of just one summer. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d heard that the difficulty of course work changed from junior high to high school here in the States, but it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so much the challenge of the content as the sheer\u00c2\u00a0volume<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0was way worse. I went from having maybe one or two projects a week to complete in seven days to upwards of TEN. Now, like Kit, I was immediately taking Honors classes once I started in ninth grade; by the time I was a junior (grade 11), I had multiple AP classes and would do about six hours of homework PER NIGHT just to get through that year. (If anyone ever wonders how I can be so prolific on Mark Reads and Mark watches, THERE YOU GO. I learned young.)<\/p>\n Yet the change is very dramatic for Nita, so much so that she wonders if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll continue to drift away from the life she had. What if Kit starts spending less time with her? What if they stop being friends and wizard partners? How can Nita even conceive of a future like that?<\/p>\n Anxiety<\/b><\/p>\n Thus, I think Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anxiety over change is what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at work here. She is quick to frustration over Kit in the final scenes of the chapter as the two of them struggle to find a solution to the pollution in bay. Now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying that Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior\u00c2\u00a0isn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0frustrating; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely not fun to have someone tell you that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being too complicated. But Nita and Kit have generally had a decent amount of patience for one another, even when they disagreed. That patience appears to have evaporated over the summer, or perhaps it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a much more recent thing. Maybe the pressure of schoolwork piling up, on top of Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s changing social life at school, on top of Dairine going off on adventures\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all running Nita raw at the edges. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s under so much pressure already, and THIS IS THE FIRST CHAPTER. So I get why she behaves as she does here, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious to see how this will manifest in the rest of this book.<\/p>\n vid<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b> In the first chapter of\u00c2\u00a0The Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma, Nita tries to find out what \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d really is after her summer in Ireland. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[520,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-3964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-wizards-dilemma","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"