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Where's My Wand?: One Boy's Magical Triumph over Alienation and Shag Carpeting    by Eric Poole Amazon.com order for
Where's My Wand?
by Eric Poole
Order:  USA  Can
Berkley, 2011 (2011)
Hardcover, Softcover, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Ricki Marking-Camuto

At first, I was interested in Where's My Wand?: One Boy's Magical Triumph over Alienation and Shag Carpeting since it took place in my hometown of St. Louis, although a whole decade before I was even born. Once I started reading it, I devoured it because of Eric Poole's hilarious delivery of his misguided formative years.

Each chapter revolves around a story in Poole's life from ages eight to fifteen, in which he felt he needed some magic to get through an obstacle or two. In his younger years, he idolized Eudora from Bewitched and would don a chenille bedspread before working his magic to end family feuds and make new friends. As he matured, he realized that magic did not exist but that he had a direct link with God, who would allow these miracles. He would no longer wear the bedspread, but it still served as a catalyst for his pleas. Even when he was not sure God was listening to him any more, he still would try until eventually, through a possible real miracle, he realized that the power to change his life resided within him.

The stories Poole relates are ones to which everyone can relate in some way, and that is why they are so engaging. The hilarity in Where's My Wand? comes from Poole's nonchalant delivery - his gift for storytelling makes it read like a novel. And like every good story, the main character, in this case the author as a young boy, grows through the tale to become a better, wiser person. Eric Poole sure has a knack for the humorous memoir, and I hope he has more stories to tell.

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