The Wizard, the Ugly, and the Book Of Shame

by Pablo Bernasconi

Leitmeritz is a powerful wizard who uses his Red Book of Spells to help everyone - everyone, that is, except his assistant, Chancery. Chancery is not handsome. In fact, most people simply call him the Ugly. But one day while the wizard is away, the Ugly tries to cast a spell on himself... and gets disastrously funny results. Fanciful collage illustrations set the stage for a tale of sorcery, dragons, and some very unusual magical solutions.

Genres: Picture Books, Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, International

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Diseñador gráfico. Ha colaborado es gran cantidad de revistas de gran renombre, entre sus clientes habituales se encuentran Clarín, Caras y Caretas, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Playboy, entre otros. Bernasconi ha sabido crear un estilo propio en sus ilustraciones, que lo hacen altamente reconocible.

Reviews

[Abigail]

Originally published in Argentina as El Brujo, el horrible y el libro rojo de los hechizos, this delightful fairy-tale from author/illustrator Pablo Bernasconi follows the story of Chancery, the big, blue, ugly assistant to the wizard Leitmeritz, who longs to be more attractive, and doesn't understand why his employer - a kind-hearted soul who seems willing to aid everyone else in the locale - won't help him to change his appearance. When Leitmeritz is called away, to the side of the unicorn Blanik, Chancery seizes the opportunity to look through his Red Book of Spells, and to ask it to make him handsome. Unfortunately, Leitmeritz wasn't kidding, when he said that the book was intended for wizards alone, as Chancery discovers when all the words and artwork fly off the pages! Hurriedly stuffing them back in, he seriously disrupts the magic of the volume, as becomes apparent when Leitmeritz returns, and spell after spell goes wrong. Will Chancery have the courage to confess his transgression? And will he ever find a way to change his appearance...?

An engaging story, one which immediately draws the reader into its fantastical world (I loved the opening line, about the seventeen thousand, two hundred and nine stairs that lead to Leitmeritz's castle!), The Wizard, the Ugly, and the Book of Shame is also a visual treat, with gorgeous collage artwork that accentuates the magical events of the story. I particularly liked the depiction of the wizard, with his carrot nose and eyeball-eyes - somehow, he looks enchanting, rather than clown-like - as well as the page in which the toad is transformed into many different colors. The message here - that magic can't be relied upon for everything, and that how we see and present ourselves to the world can be just as important as how we actually look (perhaps even that how we look is a function of these things) - is an important one, but never overwhelms the story, which can also be read as an entertaining "magician's apprentice" type tale. Highly recommended, to all young fairy-tale fans, and to anyone who enjoys creative collage art. I think I will be tracking down this author/artist's Captain Arsenio: Inventions and (Mis)adventures in Flight!

[Shannon]

This is one I forgot I had, until I was going through my picture books, and it was a real treat to find it there. It's an engaging story about a wizard called Leitmeritz who lives in a castle at the top of seventeen thousand, two hundred and nine steps. His assistant is Chancery, but he's so ugly the people in the village call him the Ugly instead. The wizard has a book of spells and uses it to help people with their problems, but the one person he won't help is Chancery, who wants to be handsome. "Your shame has nothing to do with magic," the wizard tells him. "It is only the triumph of the mirror!"

But Chancery feels desperate enough to open the book of spells when Leitmeritz is away; upon making his wish, the spells leave the book and rain down in confetti-like letters. In a panic, Chancery puts them all back in the book, but the wizard's spells are all in a mess. When the wizard discovers what has happened (or rather, Chancery confesses when all Leitmeritz's spells go wrong), there is only one way to fix the problem: "Chancery must attain his innermost wish - without using any magic."

The solution is simple and wonderful and if poor Chancery's tale of woe doesn't touch you I'd be very surprised. The story itself is longer than most picture books, with whole paragraphs and dialogue, but the story is so engaging and the pictures so gorgeous it's great motivation for kids to up their reading level. I've been trying to figure out how the illustrations are done - they look like collages but not; possibly done on computer or maybe painted? There are delightful steampunk twists, and I love how some parts are found objects - like the wizard's nose, which is a carrot:

[Kelly (Maybedog)]

I'm not sure the story worked for me in the way it meant to but the pictures ad beautiful and unique and the tale readable. I believe children would like the book not just adults like me.

[Emily]

I really enjoyed this, it had a fairy tale feel to it. The story tackles a few themes including self love and courage. I love the images, they are really different to what you normally see in picture books. I would use this in the class, I can see lots of opportunities for writing and drama in this book.

[Jax Goss]

Read this with kidlet. It's just adorable.

[Sheri Spencer]

Bernasconi illustrates this children’s tale with photographic collage that will have even grown-ups ogling over all the unlikely elements that make up each page’s art. But perhaps this is the type of amazement you get from an award-winning Argentinian artist.

But how goes the tale?

Chancery is the sad, blue assistant of Leitmeritz the Wizard. Leitmeritz is famous for helping visitors to his castle cure themselves of their ailments.

All of them except for Chancery.

Chancery thought he was ugly, and every time he went to the village, even the villagers would shout out to him and call him “The Ugly” leaving poor Chancery feeling even worse.

He finally takes it upon himself to try and become handsome, but insodoing only makes everything drastically worse.

In the end, he learns the significance of how he sees himself, and how much his self-confidence improves what others see, too.

While the story is lingering on "so-so," the art makes up for it. It's a neat little book worth thumbing through every once in a while.

[Kelly Wickham]

The Ugly wandered through town, and people avoided him. He was embarrassed and ashamed of the way he looked. He asked the wizard for a cure, but things got worse instead of better when he started messing around with wizardry. It took some failures for him to realize that the biggest way to change his looks was to smile. It was hard at first, but it became a natural reflex when he started receiving smiles in return. He had finally found his beauty!

[Hilary]

Chancery sneaks a spell in the absence of the Wizard Leitmeritz. He casts to become handsome, but winds up with chaos -- and the same face! -- instead. Worse--the spell book is now empty! How can Chancery put things right?

Fanciful collage illustrations are a perfect choice for this fable about accepting oneself, without relying on physical appearance.

[Stanlee Uy]

Teaches self-love and acceptance! Great for PSHE!

Literacy
- write character descriptions
- dialogue
- create suspense
- edit the story
- write a letter (apology)
- diary entry

Illustrations are beautiful and funny!

[Amy Watson]

This book was like watching a cartoon to me. The illustrations are very modern to go along with the magical text. I think this would entertain children, especially those interested in monsters and such.

[Kerry]

I really enjoyed this one, very unique, good story, fun with a great moral. Will be using this one with my students.

[Kylie Abecca]

The pictures were quite different and the story was quite interesting, although I do think it would have been better for Ugly to discover acceptance of himself without the use of makeup:

[Boek Fee]

The book has good drawings but it can be a little bit more adventurous.

[Arianne Higgs]

Good morals for small people!

[Vanesa Eluaiza]

En este libro nos encontramos con la historia de Chancey, el horrible hombre azul, como lo llaman en el pueblo, quien es ayudante del brujo y quién desea ser lindo.
Un día, sin permiso, usa el libro rojo de los hechizos del brujo y pide sólo un deseo pero todo se descontrola y no logra cumplirse.
Este libro nos deja una bonita enseñanza sobre mirarnos al espejo y aceptarnos como somos, querernos tal cual somos.

[Jordyn Agost]

The Wizard The Ugly And the Book of Shame is about a magical wizard who fixes everyone’s problems. He has a little helper though, his name is Chancery, and however, no one know this because they just call him Ugly. This makes him very sad so one day he tries to make himself beautiful with the Wizard’s magic book. The book breaks because he is not magical and now the wizard cannot help anyone. Too fix the book, Chancery must see himself as beautiful. To do this he adds makeup and tapes his face but instead he just ends up seeing a fool and cannot stop laughing at his own reflection. He stops seeing himself as ugly and the book is fixed.
This book has a good lesson at accepting who you are, however, I do not like the approach of this especially since some people may misinterpret the reason that Chancery was smiling.

[Bren]

En esta historia llena de magia las cosas se vuelven un poco extrañas y los hechizos están algo confundidos. Pero todo tiene solución, y tras intentos fallidos y disparates vividos, una vuelta de tuerca deja ver ternura y esperanza.

Las ilustraciones acompañan al relato a la perfección, lo hace dinámico y divertido, y hay variedad de personajes por conocer. Además, deja una enseñanza muy bella sobre la aceptación y el amor propio, y cómo nuestra percepción (de nosotros mismos) influye en cómo nos perciben los demás.

La verdad es que no me agrada mucho esto de "el horrible", pero el mensaje final permite encontrarle el sentido a la elección del autor.

Es un cuento más largo que a los que está acostumbrado mi pequeño pero lo ha escuchado y disfrutado con total atención. Su asombro, curiosidad y risas es lo que más me guardo al compartir esta lectura con él 🤍.

[Dayana]

Es una historia con personajes tradicionales de cuentos de hadas (el mago, el monstruo, el rey, etc). El desarrollo plástico es lo más interesante del libro.

Una frase que rescaté del libro:

– Tu problema no es cosa de magia -le decía siempre Leitmeritz-, sino el triunfo del espejo.

Más detalles sobre el libro en la reseña que hice en mi blog:
http://www.dayanabarrionuevo.com/rese...

[Dolly]

This is a very strange story about magic and sorcery and the magic of self-confidence and a big smile. The illustrations are creative and very abstract, with a variety of backgrounds and mixed media designs. We really liked the Warhol-esque picture of the frog, with nine different skin colors. It's a fun story to read aloud and the message is a good one, even if it is oddly presented.

[The Styling Librarian]

The Wizard The Ugly and the Book of Shame by Pablo Bernasconi – 3rd grade and up – this was one fascinating fantasy read. There was some interesting detail with collage illustrations. I liked this spin on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, nice book.

[Sam Wojtaszek]

"He's cute! I would be his friend!" A sweet story about the importance of self confidence (and telling the truth) that has such a fun, creative storyline about a wizard, a mixed up book of spells that gets him into trouble, and a sad, but loyal, ogre.

[Siskiyou-Suzy]

I was not into this at all. Cover seemed intriguing, but the story was way too long and not that great. Seemed like it was message-driven, but the message and the way it is told is flawed. I'm also not that into the artwork. The wizard has a cheese grater for a face, or something,

[Kerri]

This magician's apprentice learns a lesson about not messing with his master's book of spells, and in the process he learns to accept himself. Beautiful artwork!

[Mary]

A story that every child could benefit from reading. Laughter truly is the best medicine.

[Nella]

Picture book for older children -story with a moral -saved by the illustrations

[BL834]

Beautiful artwork outshines the just okay story.