Once Upon a Magic Book

This search-and-find adventure picturebook is fairly challenging. Starting in the magic toyshop, Jack and Sophie (who is illustrated as Afro-Caribbean or mixed-race) have to find various items on each of 13 pages in different settings to enable them to get to their next adventure and defeat the witch who is trying to stop them. Some of the items are easy to spot, but some are quite tricky. Fortunately, there is help at the back of the book, and the text under the pictures, with the answers ringed in red, also suggests other things to look for, so the reader, or rather the helping adult, is evidently expected to refer to these pages throughout. There are lots of characters to look for – does Rapunzel really need rescuing? The pirates have a quest – but what are they looking for? Three little mice on each double-page spread are helpful, but is the Giant on their side, or not? There is a lot to look at, but the pages are somewhat cluttered, and it not always easy to find all the items. Finding the escaped animals is not too difficult, but many items are quite small. There is certainly a lot to look at, and the reader could just follow certain characters through the settings.

The font is ‘Mrs White’, which was designed to look like primary school handwriting, so this might be helpful for those children who have managed to write in this way.