Mother's Magic

The mother in this book is certainly delightful with her gentle ideas for her child, and the idea of teaching through a story is excellent. But to teach the word 'magic' in the many ways we now use it seems to be too difficult.

The story is too complicated and inconsistent for a pre-school child although its format suggests this is the age to which it is directed. Starting with picking brambles we move to finding mushrooms. The explanation given about where the mushrooms come from is that they appear by magic.

While often the wonders of nature sometimes seem like magic, as adults we really ought to try to tell the truth especially to very young children who are trying to sort out fact from fantasy. If this book was to succeed, it would need to be simplified and reduced and an effort made to give it form. At the moment it lacks all that and the messages are lost.