Official Review: My Magical Kingdom by Sandie Bouton

CataclysmicKnight · Post by **CataclysmicKnight** » 10 Aug 2016, 22:00

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "My Magical Kingdom" by Sandie Bouton.]

4 out of 4 stars

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The best - and most important - part of any children's book to me is that it's something that can be shared between parent and child (or uncle and child or whatever else). My Magical Kingdom: Unicorn Gifts is a part of the My Magical Kingdom book series by Sandie Bouton, and it's definitely a great book for sharing with a young one. The series was actually created to be used with Yoga and therapeutic professionals, but the inspirational and encouraging messages within are great for any kids.

The book tells the tale of a young child walking through the forest. As the child walks, they pick up numerous different colored lanterns. After picking each up, the child sees a forest creature. This includes a butterfly, fairy and more in addition to the titular unicorn, and each grants the child their gift. The butterfly, for example, was once a caterpillar, and thus bequeaths the child the gift to become whatever they want to be. At the end, the reader is asked which creature they are, and told to take it and it's gifts wherever they go today.

This ending is what really makes the book stand out to me. It's a really unique, interesting way to get a child to imagine their inner strengths and overcome whatever issues they may be dealing with. The fairy, for example, gives the gift to heal oneself of sadness, which can really come in handy when something has a child feeling down. There's also the dragonfly, who gives the gift of blending in, which may be helpful for the first day of school or meeting new friends.

The art in the book is also phenomenal. Grace Chen's work shines, and it's clear that Sandie made a great choice by hiring a professional artist on the book. The art is incredibly high quality with numerous full-page, colorful illustrations that really draw the reader in and make the book's world come to life. It's so good, in fact, that prints could easily be made into posters and I flipped through repeatedly to look at them all over and over. The book is a total of 34 pages, making the story itself short enough for any attention span but long enough to be worth reading. It's also short enough to be read on a daily basis; with the choice of a creature and its powers every morning this could be a very beneficial book.

The book is great overall, and the bonus of the child's gender never being mentioned or revealed means the book could be read to a boy or a girl (or both!). On a personal level, I got a great deal of extra enjoyment out of it because of the way the story is told - it reads like a classic text adventure! As a lifelong gamer, this is enough to round the book up from a 3.5 (what I'd give it if I could) to the 4 out of 4 stars I'm giving it. Anyone with young children should read it with them for sure, give its gifts a shot!

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My Magical Kingdom
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