Thirteen extraordinary children with mysterious powers.
Their loving and protective father.
And a sociopathic neighbor who knows them better than they know themselves.
When Capricorn Munch and her twelve siblings appear outside a childrenâs home, no one, including themselves, knows who they are or where they came from. At ten years old they stop aging, as she and her siblings develop powers that gift them with incredible abilities, like healing wounds and manifesting objects. They keep these powers secret and their adoptive father restricts their use. Capricorn strives to live a normal life, blissfully playing with her favorite sisters, witty and bold Allie, empathic and wise Breezy, and giddy and sweet Hazy.
But now a sudden threat has intruded on their carefree lives: Their next-door neighbor, a man who calls himself Big Boss. Capricorn watches fretfully as Big Boss encroaches on her family like a malevolent force, feeding hostility between her siblings and causing them to be reckless with their powers. Capricorn knows Big Boss is plotting something sinister and can only pray it doesnât end in ultimate doom for her and her family.
Thirteen extraordinary children with mysterious powers.
Their loving and protective father.
And a sociopathic neighbor who knows them better than they know themselves.
When Capricorn Munch and her twelve siblings appear outside a childrenâs home, no one, including themselves, knows who they are or where they came from. At ten years old they stop aging, as she and her siblings develop powers that gift them with incredible abilities, like healing wounds and manifesting objects. They keep these powers secret and their adoptive father restricts their use. Capricorn strives to live a normal life, blissfully playing with her favorite sisters, witty and bold Allie, empathic and wise Breezy, and giddy and sweet Hazy.
But now a sudden threat has intruded on their carefree lives: Their next-door neighbor, a man who calls himself Big Boss. Capricorn watches fretfully as Big Boss encroaches on her family like a malevolent force, feeding hostility between her siblings and causing them to be reckless with their powers. Capricorn knows Big Boss is plotting something sinister and can only pray it doesnât end in ultimate doom for her and her family.
My name is Capricorn. Some people think: Thatâs not a name, thatâs a Zodiac sign. Trust me, Iâve heard it before. But thatâs the name I was given.
I want to tell you first and foremost about my family. I have the most unusual family that has ever lived. By the time Iâm done explaining why youâll have no choice but to agree with me.
First, I have twelve brothers and sisters, so there are thirteen kids in our family. However, weâre not biologically related to each other, except for Breezy and Hazy, who are twin sisters. We were all adopted, but we were as close as any biological family would be, perhaps even closer. We have one parent, our father Casey Munch, the man who adopted us all. We hardly ever called him Dad though; instead, we called him CC. Itâs a nickname we came up with a while back and the name stuck.
Youâre probably not going to believe what I say next, and I donât blame you. I wouldnât believe me either if I didnât know otherwise, but I swear every word is true.
Alright here it goesâŚmy brothers, sisters, and I have special powers.
Some people would even call it magic.
I know, Iâm full of it, but itâs true. I canât explain why either which Iâm sure doesnât help my credibility. All I know is around the time my sister Ashley reached the age of ten (she was the oldest, so the first to turn 10), she started developing these unusual powers.
She made CC jump ten feet in the air the day she came running into the room to first show her new powers off. âCC! CC! Watch this!â she squealed excitedly, as she raised her hand and with no more effort than it takes to wave, produced a beam of light, making the cereal box sitting on the table lift smoothly into the air, float across the room, circle around, then land gracefully in the same spot on the table.
CC gaped at her. I was afraid his eyes would pop out of his head. âH-h-how did you do that?â he stammered.
Ashley gave him a mischievous grin. âI donât know, but I can. And wait till you see what else I can do.â
It didnât take long before we found out what that was as Ashley started showing more of her powers. CC didnât know what to make of it, and honestly, I think it frightened him, but somehow he instinctively knew to keep it a secret. But what really astounded CC was as the rest of my siblings and I reached the same age, we acquired the same powers. Pretty soon every one of us was walking around using magic like it was the most natural thing in the world.
We could do things far more powerful than levitating cereal boxes too. This was discovered the day our brother Ryan hit the curb at full speed while riding his bike, and went flying headfirst over the handlebars, busting his head open on the sidewalk. He laid sobbing and screaming in pain, his leg bent at an abnormal angle, while the rest of us surrounded him, looking on in horrified shock.
âOh my God!â CC screamed as he dialed 911. âAn ambulance is on the way! Just hold on, Ryan!â He was so distraught he didnât see our sister Breezy step out from the crowd and approach Ryan, gently resting her hand on his head to comfort him. âItâs okay. Everything is going to be okay,â she soothed, lightly caressing his forehead. Suddenly a warm, yellow light appeared from under Breezyâs hand and burned brighter and brighter with full intensity. Just as it reached maximum brilliance, it promptly died out, and Breezy lifted her hand, revealing unbroken, healed skin on Ryanâs forehead. Breezy quickly moved to Ryanâs leg, and the beam of light once again radiated from her fingers, sputtering out more rapidly this time, but when she moved her hand away Ryanâs leg was no longer twisted, and he was able to move it as easily as before. By the time the paramedics arrived, the only thing they found was the circle of us standing in open-mouthed astonishment, gaping at the little girl who stood beaming in the center, appearing to glow with the warm light that had emanated from her just moments ago.
We have different theories on how we happened to possess these powers, but they are only guesses. Weâve never been able to verify a single one. Youâre still with me, which means I havenât lost credibility yet, so I hesitate to add this last point but I have to. When we developed these powers at the age of 10, that was the last year we aged - physically and psychologically. We think something in the energetic makeup of the powers crossed with our natural biological makeup to cause a chemical reaction that permanently stunted our growth. Therefore, we could never grow up. We lived our lives as eternal children. I deliberately chose the word eternal because due to our healing powers, which could mend any sickness or injury, death and serious illness became something we could easily avoid.
When CC finally came to terms with the powers we had and everything that meant, he sat us down for a family meeting. He directed us not to tell anybody, under any circumstances, about the magic. He warned us that power in the wrong hands is dangerous, and if anybody found a way to get ahold of that power, it could have disastrous consequences. We didnât think this was a problem because who would ever believe us anyway? Then CC set some major ground rules regarding the use of the powers.
âYouâre going to have to learn how to use these powers responsibly. Use them only for good and to help and heal. Donât use powers just for fun or treat them like theyâre toys. Power like this is very serious, so take it very seriously,â he stressed.
Now you understand why we are unlike any other family on Earth. I even came up with a name that perfectly fits us.
âHey, I thought of the best name for us,â I said to everyone one day during dinner. âWant to hear it? Munchkins. Think about it: Our last name is Munch, plus because of the whole not growing up thing, we stay small. Like munchkins. Itâs perfect.â
Twisty wrinkled her nose. âEh, Iâm not sure I like it, Capricorn. It sounds a little insulting.â
âI think itâs cool, Cap,â Allie smiled. âYouâre right, especially with our last name being Munch, how could we not use that?â
âI agree,â Breezy added. âThereâs something else too, Capricorn, that makes it even more fitting. The word âkinâ means family. So âmunchkinsâ is perfect because weâre the Munch family.â
âI like that,â CC smiled. âMunchkins it is.â
The Munchkins, written by early childhood teacher Candice Zee is the first book in a series about thirteen children all blessed with special powers. The novel is also supported by a  website which gives descriptions about each of the Munch children.
This story revolves around the main characters in the story â the Munch children â who have aptly named themselves the Munchkins. The main character and narrator of the story is Capricorn Munch. Capricorn is one of the quieter members of the family, but also one of the most observant. As she is the narrator, the reader gets to hear her inner most feelings, and her opinions about her siblings and the interactions with their suspiciously acting neighbour âBig Bossâ. The other childrenâs characters are well developed and differentiated, as is their relationships with each other. The one thing they all have in common is the magical powers they seem to have that allow them to heal themselves and other injured people, and the ability to levitate objects or even create new objects. Bizarrely, all of the children stop ageing at ten years old, which only adds to their mysterious qualities. The children live with their caring father Casey Munch. In stark contrast to this generally loving family is their neighbour; Big Boss. He is verbally abusive and manipulative and seems to have an uncanny knowledge about the children. Zee has done a wonderful job in developing the characters and contrasting between âgoodâ and evilâ.
The Munchkins is a well-structured novel. The characters are introduced and established in the first chapters. The single narrator makes the novel easy to follow whilst giving an insight into her inner most feelings.  The munchkins has an interesting story line with a few magical twists and turns, and ends by leading into the next novel in the series.
Overall, The Munchkins is an enjoyable read. Characters are well developed, and the plot and structure is easy to follow. I award this novel four stars.