Official Review: The Magic World of Bracken Lea

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amansmith
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Official Review: The Magic World of Bracken Lea

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[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Magic World of Bracken Lea" by Esma Race.]
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The Magic World of Bracken Lea is an adorable set of ten (10) short stories written by Esma Race and illustrated by Veronica Castle.

I will admit that at first I was skeptical because this is not usually the type of book that I would read, but after two (2) stories I was hooked. The Magic World of Bracken Lea follows the lives of the woodland creatures that live in Bracken Lea Wood located in England. Each story involves a gnome, named Glodwyn, who is constantly in trouble. However, regardless of how much trouble he gets into Glodwyn, along with his best friend Celandine, a flower fairy, is always there to help save the day.

Personally, I believe that this book would be an excellent read for younger children. I feel like they would enjoy reading about the gnomes, fairies, nymphs, ect. and to top it off there wasn’t a lot of advanced vocabulary that would confuse them. That being said, I think I would be completely comfortable recommending this book for readers of all ages because even adults need some time to connect with their imagination and get back into the world of gnomes and fairies.

Overall, I really enjoyed these stories and I would definitely read something else written my Esma Race. My favorite thing about reading these stories is the sense of togetherness that the woodland creatures have. No matter what their differences are they are always able to come together and listen to each other’s ideas. It is this ability of listening to one another that allows the creatures to hear ideas from the unlikeliest of sources, Glodwyn the proclaimed trouble maker. After reading the stories I discovered that though he may be a troublemaker Glodwyn always has the best of intentions and like all of the woodland creatures he will help anyone in need.

If there was anything that I would change about the book it would be the placement of the illustrations. I feel like some of them were out of place and showed up earlier than they should have. Also, on page 43 the word “wasasking” should have been separated into two words to read “was asking”.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I rated this book a 3 because I enjoyed reading the stories that Esma Race created and I thought they were original. I cannot remember reading anything like the tales about Glodwyn anywhere else and I enjoyed that originality. I was unable to give this book a 4 because I was slightly confused about what was going on in the first story. It wasn’t until the second story that I started to understand who the woodland creatures were and what part they played in Bracken Lea Wood.

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