Author: E.D. Baker
Illustrator: Lisa Manuzak
© Date: 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 113
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Yes, a lot of page layouts have an illustration
Publisher Recommended Age: 7-10 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No
Summary from Book: When magical creatures need help, it’s Maggie to the rescue.
Eight-year-old Maggie isn’t like other girls who live in the Enchanted Forest. She notices the magical animals around her that no one else does-like unicorns, griffins, and even talking horses.
One day, Maggie stumbles upon a tiny, injured flying horse. The only way to help the horse is to take it to a kindly stableman her grandmother once told her about. But in order to do so, Maggie must journey through the forest, which is full of dangerous trolls and goblins. Will Maggie reach the stable in time to save her new friend?
Page Pig Thoughts: This one is a decent read, but so much happens that I had a hard time settling into anything or getting attached to anything. The story moves very quickly through different issues and perils that you don’t really have time to get concerned. Overall, I liked the story and it is full of possibilities, maybe I would get more attached to the next one in the series.
Family Unit: Maggie lives at home with her father, stepmother, stepbrother, and other step siblings. Maggie’s dad is away on a woodcutting job, so he is not around.
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Maggie’s stepmother and her family don’t believe that magical animals exist.
- Maggie’s stepmother doesn’t believe that Maggie works hard enough, so the stepmother threatens to give Maggie’s bed away to her stepbrother, Peter.
- Maggie’s stepbrother, Peter, leaves her alone in a field.
Positive Items:
- Lots of different ideas are presented without too many details, so plenty of opportunities to get your imagination moving.
- Maggie is able to keep her calm and problem solve her way to surviving in the forest.
Items of Interest:
- When Maggie’s mother dies, someone introduces Maggie’s father to Zelia. Her father and Zelia later marry.
- Maggie’s stepmother and stepbrother, Peter, don’t go into the Enchanted Forest. But they also don’t see the magical creatures that Maggie sees, they believe that Maggie is lying about the magical creatures.
- Maggie and her stepbrother, Peter, don’t really get along well. Peter is not inclined to help Maggie out and is a bit of a tattle tale, but his intention is to get Maggie’s better bed and his mother’s affections.
- Peter leaves Maggie alone in a field where she has to escape from some goblins that nearly find her. They would eat her.
- Maggie has to escape from a troll that is hot on her heels. Maggie gets the troll to turn to stone with a sunbeam.
- Maggie had helped take some prickles out of a unicorn’s mane. The unicorn left behind “a shiny triangle.” Maggie later finds out that is the tip of the unicorn horn that is a bit magical, and the horn will regrow on the unicorn.
- Maggie accidentally injures a horsefly, which is a tiny horse with butterfly wings. She goes on a journey to take it to Bob the stableman.
- Maggie comes across a talking frog that happens to be a frog prince.
- Maggie glimpses at all of the magical creatures in Bob’s barn. He helps all sorts of magical animals.
- Bob has a talking horse.
- Bob takes Maggie back home since it is not safe for Maggie to be in the woods by herself due to goblins and trolls.
- Bob tells Maggie’s stepmother that Maggie needs to come help him in the barn. He gives Maggie a journal so she can take notes and make sketches of the magical animals that she encounters.
- Maggie says that she is no longer afraid of Peter. I wasn’t really sure if that meant that she lost her bed or not.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
- Book 2 – Maggie and the Wish Fish
- Book 3 – Maggie and the Unicorn
- Book 4 – Maggie and the Flying Pigs