As a child, I loved reading Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time series. It was a great way to visit a new world and the characters were ones I could relate to easily. Now my children have discovered a book they feel the same way about, The Magic Warble, by Victoria Simcox.
When my seven-year-old came home from school she saw it sitting on the coffee table.
She was fascinated by the book cover.
Of course, The Divine Miss M is a sucker for a fairy.
In the process of moving, I assured her we would read it together just as soon as we settled into our new home.
To my surprise, The Divine Miss M couldn’t wait and began reading it to Li’l Man.
It was challenging for her reading skills, but she sounded it out, asked if she couldn’t figure it out, and together, Li’l Man and The Divine Miss M began the journey of twelve-year-old Kristina, who doesn’t quite fit in.
Kristina is a lonely pre-teen and develops a friendship with her teacher.
One day the teacher gives Kristina a gift that doesn’t, at first sight, seem like anything worthwhile.
Kristina is surprised when the gift and a laundry shoot transport her to another world where fairies, dwarves, gnomes, and talking animals await.
This book has it all, including an evil queen!
In the land of Bernovem, it’s up to Kristina to return the gift from her teacher, The Magic Warble, to its proper place, freeing the land and its residence from the reign of evil Queen Sentiz.
The book is written for children in the age range of 9-13.
My five and seven year old loved this book and looked forward to reading it each night.
As we read and the story unfolded, my husband started being a quiet guest.
He finally confessed he wanted to know what would happen next and that it reminded him of one of his favorite book series, Narnia.
Throughout the book, there are simple line drawings of places and characters.
My children especially loved these and we took the time to talk about who or where it was and what they liked or didn’t like about the character/place.
We read the book out-loud and some of the flow was a tad choppy, but I attribute this to my being unfamiliar with the names like Werrian, Leacha, Davina, and the characters like Zelbocks.
Of course, these made the story more fantastic to my children’s imagination!
The main character, Kristina, was an excellent role model being brave and relying on inner strength to accomplish what may seem impossible.
Overall, my children (and Dear Hubby) enjoyed the story of The Magic Warble. From beginning to end and even now, I hear my children talking to each other about the characters. It has sparked their imagination and they want to visit Bernovem, “or a land where animals talk”.
The Divine Miss M loved this book so much that it went to school with her for Show and Tell, where she encouraged her class to “read this book for 20 minutes and you’ll want to keep reading it forever.”
I received The Magic Warble in order to facilitate an honest review. No other compensation was received. The opinions where expressed are my own and were in no way influenced by the sponsor. Others experiences may vary.