The Spell of a Story - Mariajo Ilustrajo - ★★.¾

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AUTHOR: Mariajo Ilustrajo
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: June 4, 2024
RATING: 2.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: Good intent, but the execution lacks punch. Has some abstract ideas that aren’t effectively coming across on paper. Mixed feelings.

Plot Preview:
A little girl is eagerly looking forward to the summer vacation for various reasons, but the most important one is NO more reading! She hates books, you see. So when the teacher tells the kids to read a book during the holidays, she is furious. However, when she opens the library book her mom got for her, she opens it reluctantly, only to find a magical adventure awaiting her.


I love the intent of this book. As bibliophiles, we cannot fathom the idea that someone can dislike the hobby of reading. So the concept of a book that aims to motivate children towards reading is great. Then again, book-hating children will still need to be motivated towards this book – a self-defeating task.

While the intention is wonderful, the execution left me somewhat unimpressed. (I grabbed my two not-so-little-anymore inhouse readers to share their opinion about this book, and they felt the same.) The main problem is that the story isn’t gripping.

The book is a crossover between a picture book and a comic, with some pages containing full-page art with a couple of lines of text, and some pages like a comic book, with multiple panels and text-bubble conversations. The book is aimed at readers aged 3-6, but the content might work only for the upper of that age range.

The plot is focussed only towards adventure books but there are so many other types of wonderful books for kids. Not every child likes adventure stories, after all. There is also a little belittling of fairy tales. Every genre has a role to play, and many children enjoy fairy tales, so I would have appreciated a more open-minded approach. Any book that seeks to encourage reading shouldn’t look down upon any type of good content.

The adventurous journey that the unnamed main character undertakes in the book has its moments of fun and danger, with talking animals and dragons and a magical spell popping in. But it also is too rushed, covering multiple events within just a few lines. The titular “spell” is not that impressive, with barely any magic in it. The animal accompanying the girl on her bookish adventure is never introduced. (I am still trying to figure out what creature it was – a fox or a rabbit or something else altogether?)

The colour-pencil illustrations are good. They are in a somewhat monochromatic palette outside the book world, while inside the book is full of colours – a great artistic choice. I also loved the illustrations of the books in the library and the wonders pouring out of them.

The typeface is quite interesting. There are three distinct scripts used: a CAPS scribble-styled lettering for the dialogues outside the book, the same scribble in proper case when the girl speaks inside the book adventure, and a third sans-serif typeface for the animal’s dialogues. I am not sure how I feel about the variety of fonts in a single story, and I wonder how many children will even realise the existence of the varied styles, forget about realising why.

The ending does not go the typical way. The girl doesn’t convert into an instant book lover, but goes to the library to check out another book to see if her experience was a one-off. An unusual writing choice, and much more believable than seeing a reluctant reader convert into an instant book lover.

All in all, I hope this story aims to motivate reluctant readers towards the wonder of books, but it could have done much better. With no WOW factor, it did not hold the attention of my two daughters and myself, which is so ironic considering we love books and everything about books. I am not sure how effective it would be to make readers out of hesitant book pickers. Full points for the intent, though.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Spell of a Story”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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