Magic Gems is Edina author Payal Doshi’s newest endeavour. The four-book series is published by Scholastic and comes out April 21. Doshi invites young readers to Elementis, a richly imagined world inspired by the natural beauty and emotional truths of our own.
The series centers on four friends who each wield a magical gem tied to the elements—Lily (water), Rio (earth), Scarlet (fire) and Imara (air). With themes of friendship, courage and empathy at its core, Magic Gems emphasizes the power of teamwork.
Your first books were for middle-grade readers. Magic Gems is for elementary-aged children. Was it challenging writing for a younger audience?
I love writing fantasy, and I love storytelling and creating. The biggest challenge was, “How do I write this story such that it can connect to young elementary school kids [kindergarten to third grade] but at the same time not dilute the story so it’s not simple?” I still wanted to have layers, a red herring, mystery and suspense and that sense of escape into a fantastical land.
How did you simplify the story?
It helped having a kid who is in elementary school. I would ask [my daughter] Norah to come in and read some of the [book]. I’d ask her, “Would you understand this word? Would your friends understand this word?” She has read bits, and she’s laughed out loud. I wanted to keep it funny. Living with an elementary school kid and having this front door to the humor she loves and her friends love, I drew inspiration from that, and I put it in the book.
Tell us about the world of Elementis and its characters.
Elementis takes inspiration from all of our natural beauty that exists in our land and amplifying it a little bit and interjecting fun magical elements. There are four books, and there are four main characters: Lily, Rio, Scarlet and Imara. We have the same set of four kids, but each one gets to be the main character. With each of them, I was very mindful in thinking, “What would their personal character growth and journey in the book look like?” In each of these books, there’s an overarching plot where they find their gemstone and help an animal in danger. But what about the characters themselves? Lily is afraid of the deep and dark waters, which would be a problem for a Magic Gem who is a mermaid … I love writing the scenes where we see the character struggling at first and doubting themselves and when the time comes, really going deep inside and finding that courage to overcome the big fear and insecurity of theirs. There’s always their friends and support system that help pull them out. You see them struggling, and then you see them thriving. They’re not all alone. They have their friends. Knowing if you’re not alone and that you can rely on others is a great message.
It’s a way to teach kids that there can be internal and external sources of strength. I also noticed that in some books, there is an adversary that is more than meets the eye. In the very first book, Magic Gems: Journey Through the Waterfall, Lily is … a water gem who looks after aquatic lands and animals. She has to save an otter that is severely injured by finding a cure that is in a magical tree beyond a waterfall. In the process, she comes across a lagoon, which is inhabited by a seemingly evil mermaid siren … The magic gems have finished their mission … and Lily decides to stop by the mermaid siren because she promised she would return. She makes good on her promise. There’s a sentence in Magic Gems that is applicable to the world we’re living in. “Wasn’t it funny how once you got to know someone, they didn’t seem as scary anymore?” We judge people rather too quickly based on outward appearances. When we get to know them, we don’t find them as scary, or as different.
