A Scrap of Moss and Magick by Helen Parry – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: secrets, kidnap, technology, self belief.
Children’s book title: A Scrap of Moss and Magick.
Children’s authors: Helen Parry.
Genre: Children’s fiction.
Published by: David Fickling Books.
ISBN: 9781788454131.
Recommended for children aged: 9-11.
First published: Paperback October 2026.
This children’s book is ideal for: younger, more confident readers who enjoy fantasy and magical realms. It could also be used as a starting point for discussing how the running of a gentrified household and it’s customs is so different from our homes today.
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Our review:
Thirza has no idea who her parents are, but she is happy living at Ruthyn Hall, which is where she was found on a doorstep as a baby eleven years earlier. She is a magickal child. She’s still learning, but as girls shouldn’t do magick, it’s a slow process. Her master used to be the Lord High Magician until he was stripped of his title and powers and banished in disgrace. The two have become unlikely friends and play nightly backgammon games and eat cake together.
When her master tells her his niece, Cecily, is coming to live at the Hall, Thirza is jealous, with good reason, as the newcomer is soon enjoying everything Thirza thought was hers. Cecily is friendly, however, and soon the girls are as thick as thieves, but things are no longer as they used to be and truths are revealed that change everything Thirza thought she knew. Soon the friends are fighting for their lives, but their foes are many and, for the first time in her short life, Thirza has no idea who to trust.
Our verdict:
A Scrap of Moss and Magick is a book rich in world building, with likeable main protagonists and antagonists who are equally easy to dislike. The magick is fascinating, with the spells and incantations not always successful but entertaining throughout. Thirza is far more complicated than she realised at the start, while Cecily complements her with her enthusiasm, sense of fun and encouragement. As the story unfolds and the dangers become apparent, there is still a lightness to some of the scenes befitting the suggested age range of this book.
The world the author has built is not a simplified version of our own but instead is both similar to and different from what would be expected when there is no technology or what we would consider necessities. Some of the mythical creatures and food are recognisable and the lives of both servants and the master follow a familiar path until you introduce the magick and the discoveries that change Thirza’s life forever. None of this feels out of place, however, and the story never fails to move quickly from one problem to the next in a page-turning manner.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- Thirza was jealous of Cecily to start with. She didn’t want to share her master with a newcomer. Do you think they would have become so close without Thirza’s magick?
- If you lived in a similar time to Thirza, what would you want to be able to use magick for?
- One of the things Thirza did was shapeshift into a fly! Why do you think that would be a far more dangerous thing to do nowadays?
- Thirza will never age. How upsetting do you think that will become as Cecily gets older, and maybe gets married, while she will always be eleven?
- There are lots of different things that Thirza brings to life, including toys. If you could do that to one of your toys, which would you choose?
- What is the scrap of moss and magick? How long was it before you realised this?
Many thanks to David Fickling Books for the review copy.
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