My Secret, Magic Friend

by Amy Van Duyn

On this cold day, everyone is too busy to play with the youngest and littlest.  Bored and tired of feeling left out, the child is surprised when a giant crow appears and takes them on an adventure.  This story is written and illustrated from the child's point-of-view and shows us that we can do anything we want to do, simply by pretending and using our imagination.

32 pages, Paperback

Published June 13, 2019

Reviews

[Debbie Viscosi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Use your imagination. Amy Van Dunn has written a children’s book that takes a look at how much fun you can have alone just by using your imagination. On a day when no one seems to have time for anything, a big, black crow arrives and the adventure begins. The child and crow travel far. They do and see many amazing things. As the adventure and day draw to an end, the child learns that by using your imagination you can have fun all by yourself.

This is a beautifully illustrated book with an important message. While we struggle to pry children away from screens, this shows that imagination is all that is needed for fun. As a grandmother, I plan to share this with all the grandkiddos. Reading and imagining are fun!

[Pam Dance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful book about a young child who feels left out and alone. She meets a crow and he takes her on an adventure. In the end we are left wondering if she did go on a real adventure or if she had used her imagination. It demonstrates the passage between a young child needing constant entertainment or company, to beginning to realise they can use their imagination to entertain themselves in a super way. Beautifully illustrated and some lovely word choices.

[Lizy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story telling!

[Pai Pai · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Truly a children's book in the sense that it is short and sweet, does not use any complex language and the message it tries to give to it's readers is truly heartwarming. Maybe I was not the best pick to read and review this book, because I am way older than its intended audience and also that I haven't read a children's book with this writing style in a while, but I really liked the message that this book puts forth. The illustrations are very cute and the artist did a great job in making it seem magical. The writing style seems slightly like poetry, borderline prose which I am personally not a fan of, but it makes sense for it to be a preferred style of a children's book :D Great Job by the author!! :D

[Sarah El-aasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

From time to time, I like to read children's books, they're entertaining and remind me of the good things in life. I enjoyed this one so much, it had beautiful illustrations and it was a great story. I loved how it encourages young kids to use their imagination and to not depend on anyone else to feel happy and enjoy their time. I'll recommend it to my friends who have children, I think they'll have a great time sharing this story with them.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Thank you Booktasters and Amy Van Duyn for the free copy in exchange of an honest review. This review contains my honest thoughts and has not been influenced by anyone*

My Secret, Magic Friend tells a great lesson through a vividly pleasing story. That lesson: You can use your imagination to have fun, but most of all to not feel alone. As a child, I had a huge imagination so I can totally relate to this book in some way. The visuals that accompanied really helped to captivate the magical-ness of one's imagination.

I did love that the author put a disclosure in the beginning mentioning that it is aobut imagination and although the character is telling us about a magical adventure, she wants us to be safe and know that we should never stray with people we don't know. That is a powerful message for children to know early on. Overall, it was a great short story and I would recommend it to anyone.

[Emma Thomas]

The book is beautifully illustrated and a lovely one to read aloud to a child between 3 and 6 years old. It comes with a warning message about going with strangers which I find odd as the story itself doesn't discourage this. The boy goes on adventures with a bird (albeit in his imagination) and joins Santa Claus on his sleigh for a chat. I think the message is out of keeping with the actual story and misleads the reader into expecting a story with a lesson to learn. However, the story itself offers the reader a lovely opportunity to cuddle up and escape the world through its delightful imagery. It has the potential to be wonderful but a few of the rhymes could be tweaked and improved and the message about going with strangers is confusing and unnecessary, in my opinion.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and it touched my heart. It is a great lesson for children and a reminder for adults.
It's beautifully illustrated and well written.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Number of stars 5 out of 5

If I can give more stars it's will be 10 out of 10. This book is so very cute and very well written. This book is great for mommy and me time (or daddy and me time). It's about a younger child all alone on a cold rainy day with nothing to do. But then something magical happens.

I very highly recommend this book to all parents with younger children to read so their too learn about imagination.

[Chandni Majumdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story.
Being a "big kid" I too used my imagination and it was me a small girl again. The same feeling of my father reading to me from those ladybird picture books and me wishing if this in reality happened to me.
Thanks to the writer I could relive the best part of my childhood.

[Jene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a super cute book for small children. I can see myself reading this to my kids almost every night before bed. It is in a fun format and my five year old would enjoy trying to read it as well. The art work in it is very beautiful as well. Highly recommend this to families with kids of all ages.