In the wizarding world, a "wizard’s holiday" is somewhat of an inside joke, being a "vacation or pleasure trip that rapidly turned into something else, usually involving work, but that was still pleasant in a strange way, simply because of the change." Diane Duane’s seventh novel in the Young Wizards series is a perfect example of a wizard’s holiday. Fresh from their most recent adventures inside an autistic boy’s mind (A Wizard Alone), wizard partners Nita and Kit are offered an unexpected windfall--a cultural exchange program halfway across the galaxy to a seemingly perfect world--when Nita’s wizard whiz-kid sister Dairine misbehaves and is galactically grounded by her mentor. Meanwhile, Dairine, stuck at home, plays host to three alien counterparts in the cultural exchange. For once, it seems like everyone will get a little break--there are no universes to save, no underwater exploits, no battles between good and evil. Which brings us back to that wizardly joke. As Nita realizes at the conclusion of Wizard’s Holiday, the "Powers That Be" never send any wizard anywhere without reason. It’s up to the wizards to figure out just what that reason is--and get on with the business of saving universes and battling evil. Excellent, intelligent writing, with enough technology intermingled with magic to please the palate of every fantasy and science fiction reader. Even readers outside the genre should take a look; you won’t be disappointed! (Ages 9 and older)--Emilie Coulter


From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8-What would a cultural exchange program be like on a galactic scale? Dairine Callahan wants to find out, and, without obtaining permission, makes plans to go, along with her older sister Nita, on a trip to another planet while alien wizards visit their home on Earth. When Dairine is found out and grounded, her surprisingly amenable father still allows her to host the guests as planned. Meanwhile, Nita; her best friend, Kit Rodriguez; and Kit's dog, Ponch, spend two weeks on Alaalu, a planet that seems halcyonic. Back at home, Dairine is thrilled to welcome Filif, a sentient tree, and Sker'ret, a large purple caterpillarlike creature, but Roshaun, an arrogant humanoid, threatens to make the entire experience miserable. However, on both Alaalu and Earth, the Lone Power continues to work in unpredictable ways. The wizards discover that they may not be on holiday after all, and that the civilizations of both planets are in danger of annihilation. While the narrative moves at a more leisurely pace than in preceding novels, the presentation of imaginative scenarios and challenges that are anything but clear-cut provide enough interest for fans of the series. New readers will have incentive to seek out the earlier books.Farida S. Dowler, formerly at Bellevue Regional Library, WACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Gr. 5-7. Fans of Duane's popular Young Wizards series get two new episodes in one: Kit and Nita travel to an idyllic planet for a vacation, while back on Earth, Nita's father and little sister, Dairine, host a trio of wizardly alien exchange students. As it turns out, both planets are headed for large-scale catastrophes that will call on every ounce of power, courage, wit, and knowledge that the wizards-in-training can summon. Duane never draws the two plotlines together (one shows signs of continuing on into a future volume), but she switches smoothly between them, and, as usual, her cast members demonstrate an inventive array of body shapes, personalities, and magical abilities. The author takes up too much of her telling with explanations designed to help the stories stand on their own, or to add a few new wrinkles to her unique, complex magical cosmology. But even though events are slow to develop, the lively cast will carry patient readers through situations that are, in turn, hilarious and scary. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Rest and relaxation--that's what Nita thinks she's going to get when her little sister, Dairine, signs her up for a wizardly "cultural exchange" program, sending Nita and her partner-wizard Kit halfway across the galaxy over spring break. But nothing about wizardry--not even vacation--is ever quite that simple. Back home, Dairine and her dad have to cope with their side of the exchange: three young wizards who've just moved in and are eager to start experiencing a strange alien culture . . . Earth.



About the Author
DIANE DUANE is the author of more then twenty science fiction and fantasy novels, among them the seven books in the Young Wizards series. She lives in rural Ireland.



Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
That Getaway Urge

It was the Friday afternoon before the start of spring break. The weather was nothing like spring. It was cold and gray outside; the wind hissed unrepentantly through the still-bare limbs of the maple trees that lined the street, and in that wind the rain was blowing horizontally from west to east, seemingly right into the face of the girl, in parka and jeans, running down the sidewalk toward her driveway. Except for her, the street was empty, and no one looking out the window of any nearby house was close enough to notice that the rain wasn't getting the young girl wet. Even if someone had noticed, probably nothing would have come of it; human beings generally don't recognize wizardry even when it's being done right under their noses.

Nita Callahan jogged up her driveway, unlocked the back door of her house, and plunged through it into the warmth of the kitchen. The back door blew back and slammed against the stairwell wall behind her in a sudden gust of wind, but she didn't care. She pushed the door shut again, then struggled briefly to get her backpack off, flinging it onto the kitchen counter.

"Freedom!" she said to no one in particular as she pulled off her jacket and tossed it through the kitchen door onto the back of one of the dining room chairs. "Freedom! Free at last!" And she actually did a small impromptu dance in the middle of the kitchen at the sheer pleasure of the concept of two weeks off from school...though the dancing lasted only until her stomach suddenly growled.

"Freedom and food," Nita said then, and opened the refrigerator and stuck her head into it to see what was there to eat.

There was precious little. Half a quart of milk and half a stick of butter; some small, unidentifiable pieces of cheese bundled up in plastic wrap, at least a couple of them turning green or blue because of the presence of other life-forms; way back in a corner, a plastic-bagged head of lettuce that had seen better days, probably several weeks ago; and a last slice of frozen pizza that someone, probably her sister, Dairine, had left in the fridge on a plate without wrapping it, and which was now desiccated enough to curl up at the edges.

"Make that freedom and starvation," Nita said under her breath, and shut the refrigerator door. It was the end of the week, and in her family, shopping was something that happened after her dad got home on Fridays. Nita went over to the bread box on the counter, thinking that at least she could make a sandwich-but inside the bread box was only a crumpled-up bread wrapper, which, she saw when she opened it, contained one rather stale slice of bread between two heel pieces.

"I hate those," Nita muttered, wrapping up the bread again. She opened a cupboard over the counter, pulled down a peanut butter jar, and saw that the jar had been scraped almost clear inside. She rummaged around among various nondescript canned goods, but there was no soup or ravioli or any of the faster foods she favored-just beans and other canned vegetables, things that would need a lot of work to make them edible.

Nita glanced at the clock. It was at least half an hour before the time her dad usually shut his florist's shop on Fridays and came home to pick up whoever wanted to go along to help do the shopping. "I will die of hunger before then," Nita said to herself. "Die horribly."

Then she glanced at the refrigerator again. Aha, Nita thought. She went to the wall by the doorway into the dining room and picked up the receiver of the kitchen phone.

She dialed. The phone at the other end rang, and after a couple of rings someone picked up. "Rodriguez residence..."

Behind the voice was a noise that sounded rather like a jackhammer, if jackhammers could sing. "Kit? How'd you beat me home?"

"My last-period study hall was optional today...I was finished with my homework so I went home early. What's up?"

"I was going to ask you that," Nita said, raising her voice over the racket. "Is your dad redoing the kitchen or something?"

She heard Kit let out an exasperated breath. "It's the TV."

"It's acting up again?" Nita said. Kit's last attempt to use wizardry to repair his family's new home entertainment system had produced some peculiar side effects, such as the TV showing other planets' cable channels without warning.

"Neets," Kit said, "it's worse than just acting up now. I think the TV's trying to evolve into an intelligent life-form."

Nita's eyebrows went up. "That could be an improvement..."

"Yeah, but evolution can have a lot of dead ends," Kit said. "And I'm getting really tempted to end this one with a hammer. The TV says it's meditating...but most things get quieter when they meditate."

She snickered. "Knowing your electronics, you may need that hammer. Meanwhile, I don't want to talk about your TV. I want to talk about your refrigerator."

"Uh-oh," Kit said.

"Uh-oh," something inside Nita's house also said, like an echo. She glanced around her but couldn't figure out what had said it. Weird..."Kit," Nita said, "I'm dying here. You saw what lunch was like today. Nothing human could have eaten it. Mystery meat in secret sauce again."

"Fridays are always bad in that cafeteria," Kit said. "That's why I eat at home so much."

"Don't torture me. What's in your fridge?"

There was a pause while Kit walked into his kitchen, and Nita heard his refrigerator door open. "Milk, eggs, some of Carmela's yogurt drinks, beer, some of that lemon soda, mineral water, half a chocolate cake, roast chicken-"

"You mean cold cuts?"

"No, I mean half a chicken. Mama made it last night. You've had this recipe before. She rubs it with this hot-smoked paprika she gets from the gourmet store, and then she stuffs it with smoked garlic, and then she-"

Nita's mouth had started to water. "You're doing this on purpose," she said. "Let me raid your fridge."

"Hey, I don't know, Neets, that chicken breast would be pretty good in a sandwich with some mayo, and I don't know if there's enough for-"

"Kit!"

He snorted with laughter. "You really need to get your dad to buy more food when he shops," Kit said. "You keep running out on Friday. If he'd just-"

"KIT!!"

Kit laughed harder. "Okay, look, there's plenty of chicken. Don't bust your gnaester. You coming over later?"

"Yeah, after we shop."

"Bring a spare hammer," Kit said. "This job I'm doing might need two."

"Yeah, thanks. Keep everybody out of the fridge for five minutes. See you later, bye!"

Nita hung up, then stood for a moment and considered her own refrigerator. "You know what I've got in mind," she said to it in the Speech.

And you keep having to do it, the refrigerator "said." Being inanimate, it wasn't actually talking, of course, but it still managed to produce a "sound" and sensation that came across as grumpy.

"It's not your fault you're not as full as you should be, come the end of the week," Nita said. "I'll talk to my dad. Do you mind, though?"

It's my job to feed you, the refrigerator said, sounding less grumpy but still a little unhappy. But in a more usual way. Talk to him, will you?

"First thing. And, in the meantime, think how broadening it is for you to swap insides with a colleague every now and then!"

Well, I guess you've got a point, the refrigerator said, sounding more interested. Yeah, go ahead...

Nita whistled for her wizard's manual. Her book bag wriggled and jumped around on the counter as if something alive were struggling to get out. Nita glanced over and just had time to realize that only one of the two flap-fasteners was undone when the manual worked its way out from under the flap and shot across the kitchen into her hand.

"Sorry about that," she said to the manual. "Casual wizardries, home utilities, fridge routine, please..."

Copyright © 2003 by Diane Duane

All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part
of the work should be mailed to the following address:
Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc.,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.

ANNOTATION

While Nita's sister and her dad host three young alien wizards, teenage wizards Nita and Kit travel halfway across the galaxy as part of an exchange program and find themselves again caught up in the dark doings of their nemesis, the Lone Power.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A little rest and relaxation -- that's what Nita thinks she's going to get when her little sister, Dairine, signs her up for a wizardly "cultural exchange" program, sending Nita and her partner-wizard Kit halfway across the galaxy over spring break. But nothing about wizardry -- not even vacation -- is ever quite that simple. Nita and Kit find themselves on a planet that seems at first glance to be paradise: Death and pain are so rare as to be virtually unknown, and everyone is happy. This should be a perfect world ... so why does Nita get the sense that something is desperately wrong? Back home, Dairine and her dad have to cope with their side of the exchange: three young wizards who've just moved in and are eager to start experiencing a strange alien culture ... Earth. So much for time off...

SYNOPSIS

The seventh book in Diane Duane's bestselling Young Wizards series!

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In the seventh book in the Young Wizards series, Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane, Nita and her friend Kit go on vacation to a planet halfway across the galaxy, as part of a wizard cultural exchange program. Meanwhile, three very strange alien wizards visit Nita's father and her sister Dairine on Earth. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Kathleen Karr

The seventh book in the "Young Wizards" series finds Nita and Kit off on a much needed vacation from their siblings￯﾿ﾽan intergalactic visit to the blissful planet Alaalu. It's meant to be total relaxation by the beach, but those strange dreams and whispers in the night keep interfering . . . You got it. The wiz kids have to fix yet another world. Meanwhile, back in the States, Nita's little sister Dairine is hosting three aliens in the family home: a giant centipede, a tree, and a pompous young princeling. Filif, the tree, is actually a charmer and pulls off most of the humor in the book with his interest in the local mall and its decorations (day-glow underwear as "root coverings.") Unfortunately such amusing interspecies moments end with the need for Dairine and her buddies to save the Earth from its sudden moment of crisis. Diane Duane's pseudo science is fairly impressive, but alas she resorts to borrowings from Rowling's Harry Potter books and old Star Treks for her intergalactic transportation system. Once you get past Duane's sci-fi techno jargon and plots, the story is at heart another tale of adolescent attempts at coping. 2003, Harcourt, Ages 10 to 14.

VOYA - Betsy Fraser

Nita is amused but not surprised when her little sister, Dairine, gets in trouble. Dairine is to be sanctioned for trying to register herself and Nita for a wizardly exchange program. When their father agrees that Nita and her wizarding partner, Kit, may be the subjects of the exchange, Nita is thrilled. Her preparations start the dual story line of the seventh book in the Young Wizards series. Nita and Kit are sent to Alaalu, a utopian world where the overcoming of the Lone Power means that all beings live serenely without aging, pain, or death. But it is a life that both Nita and Kit find surprisingly wrong. Back on Earth, Dairine and her father prepare for the three visitors at their side of the exchange: Sker'ret, a giant centipede; Flif, a walking tree; and Roshaun, an alien prince. The visitors each have their own perspectives of Earth, and their requirements bring humor to the book. Both story lines develop serious turns, and it is up to the planets' visitors to work quickly with the natives to save both planets from a desperate fate. Unlike in other books in this series, Duane takes the time here to develop most minor characters, including family members, giving a reader unfamiliar with the series a chance to catch up and find out the backstory. The story is also lighter than the preceding books, which should appeal to a much wider audience, both in age and in gender. Readers interested in books about wizards will appreciate one that offers not only a serious consideration of the use of magic but also its users. VOYA Codes: 4Q 4P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined asgrades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2003, Harcourt, 300p., Ages 11 to 18.

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