'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Wednesday 8 November 2023

Review: The Book for Marvellous Minds

A joyful book made for kids to keep and treasure, The Book for Marvellous Minds is a goldmine of fun between two gorgeously illustrated covers.

It’s a follow up book to The Book for Happy Hearts and brings together two of Australia’s greatest children’s literature creators — Maggie Hutchings and Jess Racklyeft. 

Packed full of stories, poems and activities for kids, it’s a superb collection of things to inspire, entertain and challenge busy minds.

With idea sparks for creating your own comfort creature or fairy garden, mindfulness stretches and activities, making an indoor tent, and creating bookmark gifts, it will provide hours of things for kids to do and make. 

But those are just the activities. Between these are pages and pages of glorious short stories and poems to keep kids reading and entertained.

I love that there’s no contents for this book. It invites readers to jump in, flick through the pages and find a treasure. But there are three different sections (morning, noon and night), which help theme up the content and lead kids to particular activities depending on their mood, and they’re easy to find using the different coloured page borders.

There’s also a lovely bright neon ribbon attached to the book, so you can mark a page if you need to remember where it is.

Racklyeft’s illustrations are, as always, completely stunning. Funky, colourful, inviting and so so ‘kid’. They come alive on every page in a gorgeous pastel-y colour palate.

The Book for Marvelous Minds is the perfect best friend for creative kids. It would make a wonderful gift this Christmas for all the busy minds in your life.

Title: The Book for Marvellous Minds
Author: Maggie Hutchings
Illustrator: Jess Racklyeft
Publisher: Affirm, $35.00
Publication Date: 26 September 2023
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781922806796
For ages: 6+
Type: Junior Fiction, Activity Book