The Magic Book

by Marcus Pfister, Marianne Martens (Translation)

Eve, a budding young magician, longs to master the dragon-conjuring spell. Her first attempts produce comic results-whimsical hybrid creatures-but no dragon. Eve keeps trying, helped by the extraordinary features of her magic book-pages appear and disappear and can be connected in different ways; conjured animals can be hidden in the book and summoned just by closing and opening the book the right way The book works forward or backward in a never-ending circle and once Eve discovers the correct words to a spell, they appear magically.
The creator of The Rainbow Fish has crafted a truly remarkable book that allows youngsters to work magic along with Eve, manipulating the pages to create six different books, conjuring unusual creatures, and finding the dragon spell to create a fantastic, fire-breathing dragon.

Genres: Childrens

28 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Marcus Pfister was born in Berne, Switzerland, and began his career as a graphic artist in an advertising agency. In 1983, he decided to dedicate more time to artistic pursuits, and began to write and illustrate his first book, The Sleepy Owl, which was published in 1986. His best-known work to date is The Rainbow Fish, which has remained on bestseller lists across the United States since 1992.

Marcus does most of his illustrations for children's books in watercolors. He begins each book by stretching watercolor paper over a wooden board so that it won't warp when wet. He then copies his rough sketches onto the paper in pencil. At this point, he is ready to begin painting. For backgrounds and blended contours, he uses wet paint on wet paper to get a softer effect. For sharper details, he first lets the paper dry, then paints the final picture layer by layer. When the illustration is complete he cuts the paper from the wooden board.

For books that feature holographic foil stamping, he then tapes a piece of transparent film over the art and indicates with a black marker where the foil stamping should be. The foil stamping is then applied during the production process after the pages are printed and before the final binding.

Marcus and his wife, Kathryn, work together in Berne, where they live with their three children.

Reviews

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

How could I have NOT reviewed this book?!? I discovered this amazing book at a independant book store during a Harry Potter festival way back in the naught's. I have intro'd this story to more kids than I can even remember over all the years since. It has an entertaining story about a young witch trying to conjure up a dragon, the illustrations are colorful and beautifully done, BUT(!) - the amazing ways this book is paper engineered is so clever! The book is accordion folded and reads forward and reverse. As if that isn't enough, it also opens different ways to conjure up amazing sights! The final page always makes the kids gasp and "oooo! how did you do that?!" Smart and innovative!
Fabulous book when introducing children to a novelty books, magic, and Halloween.
Kudos Marcus Pfister

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun! I learned about this book from a professor years ago and I HAD to get a copy! I love that the wizard is a girl, that mistakes happen and it's okay plus the mechanics of the book are just phenomenal!

[Jolanda De wit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prachtige tekeningen en een leuk verhaal vol toverspreuken. Helemaal leuk dat het boek dusdanig ingewikkeld in elkaar gezet is dat er gewoon toverspreuken voor nodig zijn om het op de juiste manier te lezen. Echt de moeite waard!

[Elon Slootweg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Niet om cliché te doen, maar dit boek is magisch! En ik ben altijd al nieuwsgierig, dus ik moet toegeven dat ik het bijna heb gesloopt toen ik erachter probeerde te komen hoe het werkte.