Nancy's gift gives her extrasensory perception (ESP), which allows her to sense events that are happening in places she is not physically present and to read other people's minds.

Critical reception for the book was positive, with reviewers particularly liking how Duncan integrated Nancy's gift of magic into the story.

Nancy can use that gift to sense events that are happening in places she is not physically present and to tell what others are thinking.

While there, Kirby tells Mr. Duncan that she had been thinking of the questions on the quiz while they were sitting together during lunch and implies that Nancy read her mind.

Mr. Duncan believes that Nancy might have extrasensory perception (ESP) to explain her ability to read people's minds.

Mr. Duncan and Elizabeth eventually marry and have a child named Lois, who is born with the gift of storytelling.

Brett played instruments by ear and did not read sheet music, much like Brendon in the story.

When Duncan was writing the epilogue, she decided to include a character named after her, explaining that she loved the book and wanted to be in the story as well.

For the updated edition, the publisher wanted to target the book for an older audience so that it was more in line with her other young adult novels.

The publisher originally suggested making Nancy fourteen and Kirby sixteen, but that presented a problem because Duncan could not identify any professional ballerina that began considerable formal training at that age.

[9] Amanda Raklovits from the School Library Journal thought that she "delivers an adequate performance of Duncan's paranormal tale" and that her "youthful voice is appropriate for the main characters' ages, though she has a tendency to over-enunciate at times.

[12] Mari Ness from Tor.com states that unlike Duncan's other supernatural works, the focus of the novel is acceptance rather than mystery or suspense.

"[13] In a 1971 review of the novel, Peggy Sullivan from the School Library Journal viewed the book positively, stating that the "[b]ackground on extrasensory perception is well woven into the story".

Kenney did not like the illustrations by Arvis Stewart in the first edition of the novel, feeling that they are "extremely sophisticated and do not seem to relate well to the simple realism of the story.

"[2] Tor.com's Mari Ness said in a 2014 review that the updated novel was a stronger work, stating that A Gift of Magic "has a fascinating portrait of someone with immense talent who just doesn't care about it, and several strong family moments".