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Having magical powers would be *so* cool. Like the ability to make your little bro disappear when he's annoying you or change the color of the sky to match your mood? Yes, please. Well, Nory and her crew—Elliot, Pepper and Bax—from the Upside-Down Magic series are Showing Off their own quirky talents...but things don't really go as planned at Dunwiddle Magic School. And with the school talent show coming up (also known as the Show Off), things are about to get even *more* out of hand. 

Meet the magic...
For starters, Nory's magic is on the fritz, and she's worried that'll upset her mega-magical dad. Elliot is suspicious of Sparkie spies lurking around and trying to snatch Show Off secrets to blackmail the crew with. Bax's new crop of quirky magic skills are a little wild and can make for some amazingly awkward occurrences. Meanwhile, Pepper is way wary of her Fierce brand of magic that scares animals—what if it causes all the animals in the Show Off to run amok?! 

Want to find out if Nory, Elliot, Pepper and Bax can work their magic—and steal the Show Off? CLICK HERE to get Upside-Down Magic's Showing Off or snag it at bookstores everywhere.

Win the wonder...
Nory and her pals aren't the *only* ones who have dealt with blush-inducing blunders and funny flaws. Want to score all three books in the Upside-Down Magic series? Read some GL girls' inspiring stories below of how they turned an embarrassing quirk into a serious strength (plus, a few from the Upside-Down crew!), then tell us about your *own* most "upside-down" sitch before February 5, 2017.  

Writing Whiz
"Moving from private to public school was hard...but finding out that I was levels behind my class in reading and writing was harder. I was put in a special reading class while the rest of the grade got to take Spanish. And English class had to be the worst of all—I started to pre-read paragraphs before raising my hand so I wouldn't get caught on a word I didn't know how to pronouce and I lived in fear that my teacher would call on me out of the blue. In 7th grade, my BFF noticed I liked writing poetry and suggested I join the yearbook club. I was so reluctant because messing up in class is one thing but having the whole school see my mistakes would surely be the end of the world. But I decided to join and I learned to really love writing (and spell-check!). I just got picked to be the editor for next year, too."—Chrstine S.,14

Messy Mixup
Changing shapes would be cool...that is, if you could choose what you turn into. Nory wants to be either a sweet kitten...or a fierce dragon but unfortunately she doesn't know how to pick one or the other—she has to be *both* at the same time (aka a "dritten"). Not exactly the best of both worlds, like when she sent her school into chaos the time she was breathing fire in the halls. However, her powers *do* mean she's the only one who can pull off a Show Off win for her and her crew. That has #girlboss written all over it.

Quietly Confident
"I’m a very shy person—I get really scared whenever I have to give presentations in front of the class and I often let my classmates make decisions because I’m too afraid to speak up and give my opinion. Yes, I’m quiet, but I think that makes me more observant and kids often times don’t notice me when they are having conversations so I tend to have a lot of inside info. This didn’t seem to be a strength at first, until one of my teachers recommended me to be a peer mediator. Basically, there’s a group of students that teachers can send kids to if they are fighting and the mediator helps resolve the conflict. I agreed and it turned out all that time observing everyone and being quiet made me a great listener. It's also how I met my BGF...he was one of the other mediators!" —Miranda F., 13

Fiercely Fearless
Having the power to make people afraid of you isn't always great. In fact, it usually causes more problems than positives as Pepper (a "Fierce") knows. But then one day, she's able to save her little sister's BFF from a swarm of frightening wasps, something a non-magical girl could never do. Turns out her scary superpowers *can* help her friends, after all.

Accidental Actress
"Ever since I was little, I've had a really weird laugh. I used to get made fun of all the time and my nickname was "Hyena". I spent hours trying to change my laugh by watching YouTube videos on voiceover and acting lessons. Because of that, I got really good at theater and performing. Now, I've learned to embrace my voice and I'm starring in my school's version of Romeo and Juliet next month. Who knew something that was a flaw could turn out to be the best thing about me?" —Camilla R., 12  

Scroll down to the comments to read more fearless stories...and post your own for a chance to win! 

by GL | 1/4/2017