Charlie’s Magical Carnival is a beautifully illustrated story which celebrates the power of a child’s imagination. It’s the perfect book to read at this time of year when many countries are celebrating carnival.
The Story: The carnival is in town but Charlie can’t find his party hat or balloon. While Mama looks for them Charlie fantasises about the carnival and a world full of elephants, lollipop trees and tree houses. When they get to the carnival Charlie’s fantasies slowly come to life and the town becomes like the one in his imagination – there are elephants to ride and a pink lemonade river. Then Charlie remembers the cake in the town square…
In Charlie’s Magical Carnival we are drawn into a wonderful world created by a child’s vivid imagination. Charlie’s fantasies become reality and his enthusiasm is soon caught by his more cautious mama who joins him in riding elephants and climbing trees. There is so much to see and do that they almost forget about the cake. It’s an awesomely enormous cake and they can eat as much as they like!
Marit Tornquist’s beautiful illustrations are full of vibrant colour and bursting with energy, several of the pages fold out so you are looking at three or four pages at once. There is so much wonderful detail in the pictures and while Mama is looking for his hat, Charlie’s imagination goes into overdrive! When he gets to the carnival he isn’t disappointed, there are elephant taxis, dogs wearing waistcoats and lots of dancing. We love the double spread showing everybody riding elephants – the firemen make us laugh – and the spread where Charlie and Mama are cycling, ordinary people’s bicycles are transformed by musical instruments and ridden by clowns, there’s even a man cycling with cupcakes on his head! The pink lemonade river looks particularly delicious and a variety of boats offer different options for drinking the lemonade, some people have even opted to swim in it!
Charlie’s Magic Carnival gives children a wonderfully vibrant introduction to the concept of a carnival. It provides lots of inspiration for a class book, children could share their ideas about their ideal carnival and which weird and wonderful characters and events they would include.
Author / Illustrator: Marit Törnqvist
Thank you to Floris Books for sending a copy of this beautiful, beautiful book.
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