Librio Library #14 – Once Upon A Magic Book – Lily Murray & Katie Hickey
2 minute readWhy we chose it:
To be perfectly honest, we chose this book as the Librio Library book based entirely on the beautiful dreamlike illustrations. It wasn't until we sat down to read it with our little ones that we realised there's an exciting adventure to accompany the imagery and we love the book all the more for it.
Once Upon a Magic Book follows two children who find a magical book in a mysterious toy shop and embark on an adventure through 11 fairytale locations, pursued by a witch who means them no good.
It's the thrill of the chase that adds an extra dimension that we haven't seen before in a search-and-find book and kept our little ones turning the page to find what happens next. On each page, the children are set a task to keep the witch at bay and this constitutes the search-and-find element.
Favourite image:
We loved the way the illustrations felt at the same time timeless and modern. The glowing effects surrounding the witch and the dreamlike lighting really captured our little ones' imagination.
Our favourite image is the flying carpet one for its evocative One Thousand And One Nights feel.
Kids will love:
Helping the children escape the clutches of the Wicked Witch and seeing the variety in the images. There is so much to marvel at in each image and lurking everywhere are the clues to how to escape the witch once and for all.
Adults will love:
Apart from the beautiful illustrations, the puzzles are quite challenging, even (maybe especially) for grown up eyes. So much so that there are solutions at the back. This makes solving the puzzles rewarding for grown ups too.
If you like this book:
Katie Hickey's (@katiehickeyillustration) dreamlike illustrations can be found in Ocean Speaks and Lumber Jills two books about strong ladies who made it against the odds in the 20th Century. Lily Murray (@lilymurraybooks) is the author of several children's books. We like the look of Monet's Cat the most 🙂