A Tricky Kind of Magic by Nigel Baines

A Tricky Kind of Magic by Nigel Baines
Buy A Tricky Kind of Magic by Nigel Baines at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Emerging Readers
Reviewer: Ruth Ng
Summary: Brush off your fez and grab that deck of cards - this is a funny, adventurous and magical story for all the budding magicians out there!
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 256	Date: January 2023
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781444960266
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Cooper loves to perform magic tricks. His father was a magician, and named Cooper after the great Tommy Cooper. But sadly Cooper's father died suddenly, and now Cooper doesn't quite know who to be, or how to be. And when his dad's prop rabbit starts talking to him, he really doesn't know what's going on anymore!

I really liked Cooper, and the way he tries to use humour and magic to make people like him. He's a funny kid, and through the story he reveals a few little secrets about magic that will thrill any budding magicians! But you also see quickly that he's holding in some really strong emotions, and it's a very clever way to look at, and understand, the challenges of grief and loss. Magic is all about making the impossible happen, and so when Cooper's rabbit tells him there might be a chance they could see Cooper's dad again, Cooper can't help but hope that it's true. The story manages to make you believe entirely that this trick prop rabbit is talking, and that Cooper and the rabbit actually do discover a magical world where all the tricks that go wrong end up!

This book manages to be one of those wonderful ones that mixes up magical adventures with powerful emotions and still manages to be funny too. It's a graphic novel, so it's told in panels and full page pictures, like a comic book. Which makes it a great story for those emerging, or reluctant readers, who can't quite face a full chapter book yet, but who need something a little longer and more challenging to read. There are occasional panels with a longer paragraph of text, but on the whole this is told through the illustrations and the dialogue, and that makes it very accessible.

For anyone feeling a bit snobbish about graphic novels, there is still challenging vocabulary, and lots of plot, pace and characterisation throughout. I personally think there's a real skill in an illustrator who can tell a story through both words and pictures, and I've seen many kids sit happily enthralled reading great stories like these, even though they don't think of themselves as 'readers'. I think one of the best things about these books is how re-readable they are, and there is huge pleasure to be had in coming back to a book like this and discovering new things in the artwork, and the story.

This is an enjoyable read that's funny, entertaining and moving too.

For more about budding magicians, you might also enjoy The Great Fox Illusion by Justyn Edwards or to enjoy more of Nigel Baines' artwork, do take a look at The Covers of My Book Are Too Far Apart (and other grumbles) by Vivian French and Nigel Baines.

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