Series ✦ Penny’s Take
Passage to Avalon
Mike Thayer · 2018
76/100
👍 Worth It
A genuinely fresh take on portal fantasy — sending a tech-savvy kid with a solar-powered phone into a magic world where he's the only one who can't cast spells is a clever, kid-friendly premise. The Whitney Award finalist nod for both best middle grade and best debut carries real weight here. The social media angle may feel dated faster than the gadget-versus-magic core concept, but for reluctant middle-grade readers this is a fun, fast ride.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety92
substance70
craft72
originality82
accuracy80
hype74
age-fit88
human-eye74
Penny’s verdict76
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