Thirty years ago a terrible incident befell the child performers of the television show Mister Magic, resulting in it ceasing any and all episodes.
Years later, the remaining cast members, Val, Isaac, Marcus, Javi, and Jenny, have returned to Bliss, Utah, where the series was filmed, so they can be interviewed for a reunion podcast.
Episodes are streamed online and rather than the conservative lessons the Bliss townspeople pushed in the past, the new Mister Magic, Val, tells the viewers that there is nothing wrong with them and that they are just learning as they grow.
In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune White stated that "Writing the novel gave me the chance to dive into this idea we have of what childhood should be" and that “A lot of conservative religions teach this sort of ownership over children’s lives and minds and hearts — that they are there for us to mold, to make into our version of the ideal girl or boy.
But it’s a kind of violence, superimposing our ideal of who our children should be and ignoring who they actually are.”[1] Mister Magic was first published in hardback and e-book formats in the United States on August 8, 2023, through Del Rey.
[6] In a review for The Washington Post, Charlie Jan Anders praised White for showing the allure of nostalgia "even as she demonstrates how hard it is to grow up and face the ugly truths that shadowed our younger years.