This was beautiful and emotional. The isolation that Jewel feels in the beginning is so real and believable. It's almost hard to believe that parents could be that removed from their own daughter, but I do think the death of a child could create such a situation. Her joy with her new friendship, and her pain when she feels betrayed, are so believable too, plus the feeling of the outdoors during a Midwestern summer. The only weaknesses are that this may be the kind of book librarians love more than kids. And also, it really never goes into actual magic being real, except for the curse on grandpa's voice. I kind of wish there had been a different explanation for that. The playing of the tape at the end made me sob. Also, diversity.