Maggie & Abby's Neverending Pillow Fort

October 1, 2017

Gr 3-6-Maggie has spent the last six weeks lonely and bored, waiting for her best friend and across-the-street neighbor, Abby, to return from Camp Cantaloupe. Maggie assumes that everything will be the same as before, but when Abby returns, she only talks about camp and doesn't want to play their old games. The exception is the pillow fort that Maggie built in her living room. Abby builds one of her own and the girls discover that the pillow forts magically connect through a mysterious link. The next day they find another link, to Maggie's Uncle Joe who is doing whale research in Alaska. That night Maggie is taken to visit the council of the North American Founding and Allied Forts Alliance (NAFAFA). She discovers that not only are there connected pillow forts all over North America, but also to keep the portals open and be able to build more, she and Abby must to do a good deed in the next three days. NAFAFA council politics complicate their attempts and when their parents find out about the pillow forts, it looks like the links may be closed forever. A mysterious key found in the Le Petit Salon in Versailles may have the answer to all their problems and sets up the cliffhanger ending, which clearly marks this as the first in a series. This is not without appeal. Unfortunately, the playfulness of the premise is marred by the convoluted explanations of the magical world-building, and the author's attempts at exploring changing friendships feels oversimplified. VERDICT An intriguing premise is made confusing by clunky plotting and character development. An additional purchase.-Kefira Phillipe, Nichols Middle School, Evanston, IL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2018
A pillow fort softens the growing pains between besties Maggie and Abby. Maggie builds a fort while waiting for her "co-secret agent" to return from Camp Cantaloupe, eager to engage in epic imaginary adventures. Once home, Abby builds a matching fort, but she's ready for real-world games with a wider circle of friends. They seem to be at an impasse until they have a breakthrough--literally, from one fort to the other via a fantastical pillow-fort link. More thrilling, they discover they can travel further afield, such as to Maggie's uncle Joe in a remote Alaska cabin. It turns out they're breaking all kinds of rules as per the executive council of the secretive North American Founding and Allied Forts Alliance. The friends each get what they want and then some: NAFAFA intrigue, a worldwide network of magical pillow forts, a centuries-old mystery, and a dose of life-and-death drama. Physical and cultural descriptions of the varied cast are brief, but personalities are vivid and colorful; narrator Maggie appears to be white, while Abby is Latina. Deeper themes of friendship, illness, bravery, and faith are introduced, but debut author Taylor maintains a light touch. Maggie never holds back, giving full vent to her gloriously intrusive imagination, self-doubts, sensitivities, and growing self-awareness. Some of the details are murky, but in a cliffhanger ending, the linchpin to the network seems to be Camp Cantaloupe, and Maggie and Abby hold the key.... Ridiculously irresistible, this will leave readers eager for the next escapade. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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February 15, 2018
Grades 4-7 Maggie, 11, can't wait for best friend Abby to return from summer camp so they can resume their adventures, which are fueled by Maggie's powerful imagination. Abby, however, has changed and only wants to tell Maggie about camp, although Maggie's pillow fort inspires her to build her own. When Maggie finds that her fort is linked to Abby's, the girls make plans for more adventure. Then Maggie is summoned to the council of the organization that oversees all pillow forts in North America. The council members, all of them kids, are very rigid about their rules and inform her that she has three days to perform a good deed to their standards or her fort will be disconnected from the network. As Maggie and Abby struggle with the task and their friendship, Maggie discovers new strengths within herself. The narrative is peppered with lively, well-rounded characters who advance the action and contribute to the plot. Taylor's debut is such a rollicking good time that readers will likely hope for more to come.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Rising sixth-grader Maggie fears that best friend Abby, just back from camp, has lost interest in their elaborate make-believe games of espionage. But when Maggie and Abby discover that their pillow forts are actually connected by a magic portal, they're drawn into a dangerous worldwide pillow-fort network. Imaginative scenarios and intriguing characters round out this compelling, original adventure.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)