The Magic Misfits is the first book in a four-book New York Times best-selling series by Neil Patrick Harris, illustrated by Lissy Marlin and Kyle Hilton. Published in 2017, the middle grade adventure novel follows young Carter Locke, who has a passion for magic and is on the run from his guardian Uncle Sly, who is a crooked swindler. When Carter lands in the town of Mineral Wells and discovers an enchanting magic shop, his world transforms. He meets a group of young magicians, and they combine their talents to outwit B. B. Bosso and his crooked carnival cronies. Throughout their adventures, Carter learns important lessons about identity, courage, and the true meaning of family. The four-book series is based on the four suits of a deck of cards. The Magic Misfits: The Second Story centers on Leila, and The Magic Misfits: The Minor Third spotlights Theo’s character. The final book in the series, The Magic Misfits: The Fourth Suit, highlights the character of Ridley.

This guide refers to the 2017 e-book edition from Little, Brown and Company Hachette Book Group.

Content Warning: This guide and its source material contain descriptions of child abuse and neglect.

Plot Summary

Carter Locke once lived in a quaint cottage by the ocean with his loving parents. However, after his parents died, Carter had no one to care for him but a family friend named Sylvester Beaton, whom he calls Uncle Sly. Uncle Sly is a con artist who uses sleight of hand and mundane magic tricks to swindle his way through life. Since he is often on the run from local law enforcement, Uncle Sly never stays in one place for long. Carter detests Uncle Sly’s nefarious ways and refuses to steal, but Uncle Sly often forces him to serve as a lookout to create a diversion. Though Carter claims that he doesn’t believe in magic, his deft hands make him a natural at illusions and sleight-of-hand tricks. He practices his skills and dreams of having a real home and family someday.

After Uncle Sly steals from the kind owner of the boarding house where they are staying, Carter resolves to find a new life far from Uncle Sly and his thieving ways. Carter grabs his leather satchel containing all his belongings, including a special wooden box monogrammed “LWL,” and runs to the train station. He hops on a train car, barely escaping Uncle Sly’s grasp. Carter falls asleep and awakens in a town called Mineral Wells. Carter immediately sees a carnival tent and a group of sad-faced clowns loading items into a car. Though the clowns seem dubious, the town appears quaint and happy, and Carter decides to stay and explore.

Hungry and exhausted, Carter wanders into B. B. Bosso’s carnival midway, trying to ignore the delicious smells wafting through the air. Since he has no money, Carter can’t play any carnival games, so he enters the carnival sideshow. Filled with oddities such as the Tattooed Baby, the Spider-Lady, and a strongman named Walrus who can supposedly lift weights with his mustache, the sideshow attracts many patrons, but Carter isn’t fooled and can see through all of the illusions. Outside, Carters approaches an older man to get a closer look at his coin tricks. The man introduces himself as Dante Vernon and shows Carter a card trick. He lets Carter keep the card and warns him to avoid Bosso and his carnival gang. He then vanishes. Carter swipes some discarded food from a trash can and ponders the mysterious Mr. Vernon; he has never met someone who does tricks just for fun, with no motivation to steal money from others. Suddenly, the strongman, Walrus, grabs Carter and drags him to a circus trailer, where Bosso is waiting. Bosso has heard of Carter’s skills and asks him to join his carnival gang. Remembering Mr. Vernon’s words, Carter asks for time to think it over. He leaves the trailer and sleeps on a park bench overnight, but when he wakes up the following day, someone has covered him with a blanket and deposited coins in his pocket. Carter examines the playing card from Vernon and finds a hidden business card inside with the address for Vernon’s Magic Shop. Carter finds the shop in town, and when he enters, a parrot named Presto greets him by name. He meets a young girl named Leila, who is an escape artist. Leila explains that Mr. Vernon is her adopted father. She lives with him and her other dad, whom she calls the Other Mr. Vernon, in an apartment above the shop. The Other Mr. Vernon is the head chef at Mineral Wells’s big attraction, the Grand Oak Resort. Mr. Vernon gives Carter a book about vanishing and tells him to return to the shop later that day.

Bosso’s carnival quartet, the Pock-Pickets, performs in the town square. With his keen eyes, Carter sees that the quartet’s performance is a form of misdirection that allows them to pickpocket the crowd. Suddenly, a boy in a tuxedo named Theo takes the stage and plays the violin, which he produces magically from his jacket, and uses a magic trick to levitate the quartet’s money bag. Carter realizes that the boy is trying to foil the Pock-Pickets’ plan, so he resolves to help, communicating his intentions to Theo through the emphatic use of eye contact. Carter proceeds to pickpocket the Pock-Pickets and returns the stolen items to their owners. Afterward, Theo and Carter congratulate each other on their teamwork just as Leila arrives with another friend named Ridley, who uses a wheelchair. The whole group returns to the magic shop, where they meet every Friday after school to practice magic tricks. They share their skills and agree to let Carter join their club and see their secret hideout, which is hidden behind a bookshelf. For the first time, Carter feels like he belongs somewhere, but he doesn’t tell the group how he came to Mineral Springs.

The group visits the carnival and explains to Carter that all the games are rigged. Ridley wins the milk jug game and wins a giant flamingo. Using the mystery coins that he was given, Carter buys the group a psychic reading, and the reader tells them to remain united as friends in order to overcome any future obstacles. They attend the big show, where Bosso wows the crowd with many tricks and invites everyone to attend the finale the next night at the resort, where he promises to display the Star of Africa diamond. As the new friends leave, they realize that the Pock-Pickets have stolen something from each of them and have also taken Carter’s wooden box. The friends decide to investigate the problem the next day, and Theo invites Carter to stay at his home. The team reconvenes at the magic shop and tells Mr. Vernon about the stolen items. Though he appears to know Bosso, Mr. Vernon says he cannot help them directly. Instead, he shows them where to find disguises and tells them that the carnival gang is staying at the Grand Oak.

While searching Bosso’s room at the resort, Carter and Leila realize that he has created a fake diamond and plans to steal the real one. Joined by the resort’s performing duo, Olly and Izzy, the group races back to the magic shop to tell Mr. Vernon about Bosso’s plan. Mr. Vernon says he can’t help them and leaves to meet with a friend. The team hatches a plan to foil Bosso’s heist. They gather supplies before returning to the resort. While scaling the catwalk, Leila and Carter overhear Mr. Vernon speaking to Bosso, whom he calls Bobby, begging him to abandon his plan. Bosso refuses, and Walrus knocks Mr. Vernon out and drags him away. The children realize that Bosso plans to frame Mr. Vernon for the imminent diamond theft.

During the show, the children hide backstage as Bosso presents the large diamond and uses misdirection and a vanishing trick to switch it with the fake. After his act, the twins take the stage and dump breakfast food on Bosso to distract the crowd while Carter tracks down the diamond. He steals it from the Pock-Pickets and uses his magic skills to make it reappear on the stage. Bosso and his cronies chase Carter backstage and corner him in a prop room, where Bosso confesses to stealing the diamond as well as piles of jewelry and money from the townsfolk. Carter kicks over the walls, revealing a false room, and plays Bosso’s recorded confession for the crowd as the other team members wheel out carts of stolen goods. The police arrest Bosso, Walrus, and the Spider-Lady, but the clowns escape.

Carter admits to his friends that he is an orphan without a home. Mr. Vernon reveals that Carter’s father is his cousin; they were once part of a troupe of magician friends called The Emerald Ring. Since hearing about the Lockes’ deaths, Mr. Vernon has been searching for Carter and believes that fate brought the boy to Mineral Wells. He asks Carter to stay and be a part of their family. Theo, Leila, Ridley, and Leila agree to let the twins join the group as well, and they call themselves the Magic Misfits.