The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents

A middle grade magic school fantasy perfect for fans of The School for Good and Evil and Witchlings, in which a girl with unparalleled power must work with her misfit classmates to save her new school.

Lavinia “Vin” Lucas is out of control and out of options. Stranded by parents who would rather use their average magical abilities to study dung beetles than raise her, Vin's been on her own for years. But she’s never been able to corral her own powerful, unpredictable magic. After years of detention, suspension, and expulsion from magic schools far and wide, she’s now being sent to the Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents. If she gets expelled, it’s the end of the line. 

Now, Vin is determined to behave. Except no one at Last Hope seems to want her to. Her new teachers—particularly the school’s kind headmistress—push her to explore her magic, and her mischievous classmates delight in every accident. And all the while, a mysterious fire sprite, a suspicious instructor, and her overwhelming abilities might just sabotage Vin. But for the first time, she is not alone.

So when a former student begins attacking the school, Vin must question just how much she knows about the headmistress and her new home. Is this place worth saving? And are her budding abilities—and every trick, trap, and deception in her friends’ delinquent arsenal—enough to protect Last Hope?

Nicki Pau Preto is a fantasy author living just outside of Toronto—though her dislike of hockey, snow, and geese makes her the worst Canadian in the country. She studied art and art history in university and worked as a graphic designer before becoming a writer full-time. She is the author of the Crown of Feathers trilogy and Bonesmith. She can be found online at NickiPauPreto.com and on Instagram @NickiPauPreto.

ISBN: 9780593528518
Format: Hardback
Pages: 352
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: October 01, 2024

"The heart, humor, and hijinks of middle grade are at their best in The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents. A story full of found family, magic, and learning to believe in yourself, it’s sure to appeal to fans of Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor series."—Kalyn Josephson, New York Times bestselling author of the Ravenfall series

"An absolute masterpiece full of breathless magic and charming characters. Readers will find the pages all but turning on their own as Nicki Pau Preto leads us from wonder to mystery and everything in between.”—Scott Reintgen, New York Times bestselling author of A Door in the Dark

"Brimming with magic, mystery, and heart, this story was an action-packed delight from start to finish. Vin is a lovable heroine worth rooting for, and Nicki Pau Preto delivers a fresh, fascinating new world that any reader—delinquent or not—would want to belong to."—Jessica Khoury, Author of The Mystwick School of Musicraft and the Skyborn series

"This engaging magic school story has hijinks, humor, mystery, and action . . . An absorbing, mischief-filled fantasy"—Kirkus Reviews

[An] empowering fantasy...Propulsive pacing and a mischievous sense of humor characterize...Pau Preto’s high-spirited middle grade debut."—Publishers Weekly