Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Spell Book of Listen Taylor | 2007 | Jaclyn Moriarty | Buy |
| 2 | Magic to Mend a Broken Heart | 2009 | Jaclyn Moriarty | Buy |
Listen Taylor is a wonderfully odd character — observant, dry, and caught in the middle of a family that tends toward the dramatic. The first book, published in 2007, introduces her world and the spell book that gives the series its name. Moriarty keeps the magic ambiguous, which suits the tone: the real subject is family relationships and the particular strangeness of being a child surrounded by adults who have not figured themselves out.
The follow-up, Magic to Mend a Broken Heart, continues Listen’s story and picks up threads from the first book. Both books are relatively short and suited to younger readers, though they have Moriarty’s characteristic wit running through them. The series sits slightly apart from her other work in that it is aimed at a younger audience than the Ashbury/Brookfield books while being more grounded than the Kingdoms and Empires fantasy.