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Lucy Lancaster #4
Lucy Lancaster in the Spotlight
Lucy Lancaster’s magic backfires at her music recital in this fourth book in a chapter book series full of magical mishaps and everyday childhood adventures.
Lucy’s guitar class is putting on a recital! While all the other students are busy practicing their parts, Lucy is relying on her magical hiccups to keep her on pitch and on the beat. But right when she needs her magic to kick in, the hiccups don’t come out! Will Lucy rediscover her groove in time for the show?
With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Lucy Lancaster chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.
Lucy’s guitar class is putting on a recital! While all the other students are busy practicing their parts, Lucy is relying on her magical hiccups to keep her on pitch and on the beat. But right when she needs her magic to kick in, the hiccups don’t come out! Will Lucy rediscover her groove in time for the show?
With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Lucy Lancaster chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.
128 pages, Hardcover
Published August 5, 2025
3 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 5, 2025
Another great addition to the series! My daughter really enjoys this series.
March 8, 2026
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Lucy loves playing the guitar and taking lessons from Mr. Martin at the community center with Karina and Gabe. She's excited when the annual recital is announced, and can't wait to get up on the stage and have all of her friends watch her perform. She invites her best friends, Heidi Hecklebeck and Bruce Bickerson, but when Bryce shows the group the music she is playing on the piano, Lucy scoffs and says that she could play the (much harder!) music in her sleep. Lucy panicks a little because she isn't that good a guitarist, and is all set to practice a lot, but remembers that her magical hiccups could make her sound great. She doesn't practice at all in the week leading up to the concert, and even goes out to the park to play soccer the day of rehearsal. Things go poorly, and she makes a big mistake, and not even her spells help. She tries to get out of going to the concert, going as far as claiming that she has hurt her arm, but her parents know she is faking it, and try to reassure her that she will be fine. They even put together an audience of her stuffed animals so that she can practice playing in front of a crowd. She's still nervous before the concert when her friends Heidi and Bruce show up, but they assure her they are there to hear her do her best. Lucy's trio with Karina and Gabe goes well, but Bryce's piano piece has some problems. Even though Lucy didn't use her magic to help her performance, there is magical confetti at the end of the performance!
Any child who has been involved in dance or music lessons may have been faced with a first public performance and the attendant anxiety that goes along with getting up on stage, so this is a great book to show that preparation and a good attitude is the key to success. While Lucy doesn't practice as much as she should, there is a consequence for her actions when she doesn't do as well as she would like. She tries to prepare herself as much as she can in the short time left, and I like to imagine that in the future she would dedicate herself to more structured practice. Bryce is an interesting character; sometimes, she is nice, but she is often mean. I think children run into people like this more often than it is depicted in the literature!
The book has lots of black and white illustrations, many of which take up half the page, as well as decorations, making this a great choice for readers moving from I Can Read books to longer titles. The stars and exuberant lines that appear whenever magic is happening make it easier to know when Lucy's magical hiccups are influencing her actions.
Aimed at readers aged 5-9, the Lucy Lancaster stories are perfect for that age when magic seems like it really MIGHT be possible. Readers who enjoyed Anna's Daisy Dreamer books, Meadows' Rainbow Magic series, Meddaugh Martha Speaks titles, or vintage Ruth Chew tales will find that Lucy casts quite the spell on them.
Lucy loves playing the guitar and taking lessons from Mr. Martin at the community center with Karina and Gabe. She's excited when the annual recital is announced, and can't wait to get up on the stage and have all of her friends watch her perform. She invites her best friends, Heidi Hecklebeck and Bruce Bickerson, but when Bryce shows the group the music she is playing on the piano, Lucy scoffs and says that she could play the (much harder!) music in her sleep. Lucy panicks a little because she isn't that good a guitarist, and is all set to practice a lot, but remembers that her magical hiccups could make her sound great. She doesn't practice at all in the week leading up to the concert, and even goes out to the park to play soccer the day of rehearsal. Things go poorly, and she makes a big mistake, and not even her spells help. She tries to get out of going to the concert, going as far as claiming that she has hurt her arm, but her parents know she is faking it, and try to reassure her that she will be fine. They even put together an audience of her stuffed animals so that she can practice playing in front of a crowd. She's still nervous before the concert when her friends Heidi and Bruce show up, but they assure her they are there to hear her do her best. Lucy's trio with Karina and Gabe goes well, but Bryce's piano piece has some problems. Even though Lucy didn't use her magic to help her performance, there is magical confetti at the end of the performance!
Any child who has been involved in dance or music lessons may have been faced with a first public performance and the attendant anxiety that goes along with getting up on stage, so this is a great book to show that preparation and a good attitude is the key to success. While Lucy doesn't practice as much as she should, there is a consequence for her actions when she doesn't do as well as she would like. She tries to prepare herself as much as she can in the short time left, and I like to imagine that in the future she would dedicate herself to more structured practice. Bryce is an interesting character; sometimes, she is nice, but she is often mean. I think children run into people like this more often than it is depicted in the literature!
The book has lots of black and white illustrations, many of which take up half the page, as well as decorations, making this a great choice for readers moving from I Can Read books to longer titles. The stars and exuberant lines that appear whenever magic is happening make it easier to know when Lucy's magical hiccups are influencing her actions.
Aimed at readers aged 5-9, the Lucy Lancaster stories are perfect for that age when magic seems like it really MIGHT be possible. Readers who enjoyed Anna's Daisy Dreamer books, Meadows' Rainbow Magic series, Meddaugh Martha Speaks titles, or vintage Ruth Chew tales will find that Lucy casts quite the spell on them.
December 4, 2025
Lucy is back and learning to play the guitar. She gets tripped up when she lies to friends about her skill level so uses magic to play. Unfortunately, she chooses not to practice and has a disastrous rehearsal. She learns a valuable lesson about practicing. She also discovers her friends value her not her skills.
March 27, 2026
This is the perfect story to show will and overcoming fears with the help of others (family and friends who support). Hiccup! and a shower of confetti. so cute. Great for read-along and read-aloud, independent reading, or in a kids' book club.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews