When Chloe’s silver crayon starts sparkling she draws a picture and is unexpectedly thrown into a magical adventure in a fairytale wood. She must rescue her brother, Jack, but she also needs to keep her wits about her so that she can bring him home safely…
The Magic Crayon is a fun to read rhyming story full of humour and instantly recognisable fairytale elements. Chloe’s frustration with her annoying older brother is a situation that many children will be able to identify with but, despite everything he’s done, she’s there to help him when he needs her.
The Story: Jack loves to play tricks on Chloe so when her silver crayon starts sparkling she draws a horrid witch outside her brother’s bedroom door. But the witch turns Jack into a frog which leads to a magical adventure as Chloe goes to rescue him…
Jack has really annoyed Chloe but she’s surprised when the witch that she draws comes to life and makes the situation even worse! Chloe draws a ladder so that she can follow the witch and Jack and when she gets to the top she finds herself in a fairytale wood. Her crayon helps her to draw her way out of trouble with the fairytale characters that she meets on the way to the witch’s house but Chloe still needs to convince the witch to change Jack back into a boy – luckily she has her crayon to help her!
Chloe is a quick thinking, level headed heroine and we love the way that she deals with the characters that she meets in the wood – what she draws for the wolf made us laugh!
Ali Pye’s fabulous illustrations accompany Amy Sparke’s easy to read, bouncy rhymes. The illustrations are layered and we love the collage style which is bold and bright while Chloe is at home but becomes wonderfully atmospheric once we enter the wood – even the trees have eyes!
The Magic Crayon would be a fabulous book to use in the classroom to inspire a creative writing session. What would a child draw if they had a magic crayon? Which other fairytale characters would they add to Chloe’s adventure? It’s also a great story to include in a topic on families as it can stimulate discussion about sibling relationships and rivalry.
At the end of the story, after an apology from Jack, Chloe puts her crayon away. But there’s a hint of more adventures to come…
We hope so!
Age Range: 3+
Author: Amy Sparkes / Illustrator: Ali Pye
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