Marlow Brown Magician in the Making is a story about a girl who is inspired to become a magician after meeting Mervin the Magical at the fair. Written by Kesta Fleming and illustrated by Marjory Gardner, published by Celapene Press.
Marlow Brown is a school aged child who is inspired to become a magician after Mervin the Magical performed at the local fair. He even let her assist him during his show, and as a thank you, gave Marlow a show bag with tricks and tips to get her started in the world of magic.
With the help of Marlow’s dog, Rockstar, she studied The Magicians Handbook from the show bag. Learning how to perform tricks and improve her skills, Marlow used a notebook to record her tricks step by step.
Marlow practiced and practiced and attempted two tricks for her parents. They were, unfortunately unsuccessful and her dad wouldn’t stop laughing. Not deterred she decided to perform a trick at school which a classmate filmed. With the help of her friend Felix, she was going to pretend to hypnotise him. What ensues is a classroom full of chaos, when Marlow’s Teacher also pretends to be hypnotised, or is she really pretending?
What young person doesn’t dream of what they will be when they grow up? Marlow Brown Magician in the Making is Kesta Fleming's second book, where Marlow has moved on from wanting to be a scientist in book one but uses some of her science skills and knowledge when exploring the world of magic.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found myself turning the pages eagerly to discover what mischief Marlow would get into next. It brought back memories of my childhood, when I was so determined to do something and was devastated when an adult laughed at me, I felt for Marlow when her dad laughed at her. It was inspiring that she didn’t let that stop her and she was even more determined to follow her desires and work harder to achieve what she wanted.
Blue bear thought the illustrations were delightful. He particularly likes the one where Marlow
is trying to hypnotise Felix. Blue Bear likes it when Felix’s eyes roll back and he looks like he is dizzy, I had to explain to him that he isn’t dizzy, he’s only pretending.
Thanks to Books On Tour PR & Marketing for organising the blog campaign which this blog is a part of.
A chapter book for ages 8 - 12 year olds.
Educational activities
Writing activity
– Who would you hypnotise and why?
Personal development
– Role playing activities to build resilience, how a person might feel and respond when someone laughs at them.
– Role play and explore how a person can react and feel when they make a mistake and what they could do to correct the mistake.