When the Magic Began (Felicity Wishes) by Emma Thomson
| When the Magic Began (Felicity Wishes) by Emma Thomson | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Magda Healey
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| Summary: When the Magic Began is another volume in the Felicity Wishes franchise. I tend to be more positively disposed to this one that to some others because it's clearly based on the artwork and visuals, and those are acceptable enough, especially if girly items are your thing. The book is very nicely produced, with hard covers, glitter, thick paper and cutesy, pretty and humorous illustrations. | |
| Buy? No | Borrow? Maybe |
| Pages: 32 | Date: 15 Nov 2007 |
| Publisher: Hodder Children's Books | |
| ISBN: 978-0340932322 | |
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Felicity Wishes needs to pass an entrance test to the School of Nine Wishes. A day before the test she starts practising, with her friends, but all the wand swishing and fairy dust sprinkling gets a bit out of hand. When the Fairy Godmother appears in a cloud of golden sparkle, Felicity gets seriously worried about her qualification. But it all resolves admirably, and Felicity's formal education can commence.
When the Magic Began is another volume in the Felicity Wishes franchise. I tend to be more positively disposed to this one that to some others because it's clearly based on the artwork and visuals, and those are acceptable enough, especially if girly items are your thing. The book is very nicely produced, with hard covers, glitter, thick paper and cutesy, pretty and humorous illustrations.
As a story, When the Magic Began has a reasonable plot (and an endlessly reinforced "friendship" message) and more is the pity that the writing (of which there is a considerable amount for a picture book) fails it. It is pedestrian, a bit clunky and flat and not particularly enjoyable when reading aloud.
It could work reasonably OK as very early reading material for girls just-starting-to-read who are Felicity fans and are not ready for her proper-book stories yet, though in all honesty, there is a lot of better quality writing out there and the whole Felicity concept works better in novelty products like this or this.
This book and the keepsake album mentioned above were sent to the Bookbag by the publishers.
For true magic (plus wonderful illustrations and great text) have a look at The Magic Paintbrush or The Sandhorse, while if you are after girly magical creatures that are not fairies, the The Christmas Unicorn might be worth a look.
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You can read more book reviews or buy When the Magic Began (Felicity Wishes) by Emma Thomson at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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