Magic Stories (Homeschool Review Crew)

Magic Stories

This is a set of Six eBooks that we were asked to review for Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, publishers of The Reading Game and authors of the Wordly Wise series, called The Magic Stories. These are very short ebooks that come with some games and word work. Here is a brief synopsis of each story that we received to review.

The Magic Hole

Ping Ho, his wife Nan, and their little girl Kim lived in poverty and just barely had enough fish and rice to live on. One day a magic hole appeared in their lives. It consumed their rice, their money, and ultimately the lake Ping Ho fished. How did this happen, they never knew. But thanks to the magic hole, the lake bed was perfect for growing rice. So Ping Ho became a rice farmer and began to grow rich, all thinks to the magic hole.

The Magic Ax

A woodcutter lived in the woods with his wife and six children. One day the oldest son Tom had to go help with the wood cutting. But with so many interesting things to see and do int he woods, he got easily distracted and cut hardly any wood. After many days of trying and very little succeeding, Tom knew he just wasn’t cut out to be a woodcutter. Then one day his woodcutter father broke his leg and could no longer work. Tom said he had watched and watched his father and he could do the woodcutting job. The day though was more fun without his father fussing at him and before he know it, the day was done and he had no wood to take home. He cried and cried and a tiny man appeared. This tiny man offered Tom a magic ax that did all of the work, filling the cart to overflowing. Tom was thrilled, no more work but all of the rewards to go along with the work; congratulations, more food, proud parents. After many weeks of this magic ax doing all of the work, his father was ready to return to work. Tom grew scared because he didn’t want the magic ax to be found. So he suggests that father take the wood into town instead of helping chop the wood. But when Tom went to the woods, the magic ax no longer had any magic. In a panic Tom set out to chop the wood, and he filled the cart before nightfall. With much work and diligence, Tom realized he didn’t need the magic ax, he was able to do all the work required.

The Magic Joke

The funniest joke of all time was shared in the kingdom. It was so funny that once you heard the joke you couldn’t stop laughing. Since there was a war between the kingdoms, the princess thought to share the joke with he enemy. What a great way to win the war between the kingdoms! So the joke was shared with the enemy and eventually all of the soldiers, on both sides, laid down their weapons. The king was so angry that this daughter the princess shared the funniest joke with all of his men and declared that the process had lost him the war. The princess however was relieved that the war was over. In the midst of the king’s rage he accidentally read the joke to himself and could no longer contain his laughter. The process ended up ruling the kingdom because she had never heard the joke. She married the prince from the other kingdom, and is believed to have lived happily ever after.

The Magic Hotdog

Alfred loved hotdogs. Homemade ones, store bought ones, and especially the hotdogs at the fair. Alfred saved $10 so he could eat hotdogs at the fair. Alfred went the fair with his friend Pedro. Pedro was super excited to ride the rides and play the games. Alfred was super excited to eat the hotdogs. Alfred ended up spending all of his money on hotdogs. Pedro really wanted to show Alfred something, so Pedro dragged Alfred to see this strange man. He had nasty teeth, nasty dirty hands, and he was eating a footlong hotdog. This hotdog was covered in relish, mustard, and ketchup. Alfred couldn’t believe his eyes, no matter how many bites of the hotdog the man took, the hotdog never got any smaller! It must be a magic hotdog. The man with a sly look handed the hotdog over the Alfred. Alfred was thrilled. He ate and the and ate and ate the hotdog but it never got smaller. Alfred got bigger and bigger and bigger though from all of the eating. Eventually he got so big he floated straight up into the sky. Alfred is believed to still be floating hight in the sky eating this magic hotdog.

The Magic Boots

In a case of mistaken boots, Patty ended up getting a pair of goblin boots from the shoe store that turned her mean and nasty. She kicked the dog, kicked her mother, and ran away from home. Come to find out the shoe store owner had given Patty the goblin boots instead of the pair of pixie boots she had requested. After Patty had the goblin shoes removed ed she was able to live peacefully as a pixie with her new pixie boots.

The Magic Box

Rum-pel-stilt-skin was no fool. He created a “magic box” that turned gold into straw. This was amazing as no one could believe. He travelled far and wide and shared his “magic box” with all the people that were interested in seeing his wonderful box. After a while everyone began to see that Rum-pel-stilt-skin and the king were rather close, friends in fact. Anyone that had a Rum-pel-stilt-skin piece of straw was often visited by the king’s men which no one ever really wanted to happen again. So eventually the “magic box” lost its appeal to the people. After a time Rum-pel-stilt-skin tried to put on a show for the people with his “magic box” but only a few people showed up. After a much heated debate the people tore open the “magic box” and found it was full of straw. They realized the lie and Rum-pel-stilt-skin became so angry that he stomped his foot on the ground. This in turn got his leg stuck and in his effort to remove his leg, torn himself in two.

What We Thought of the Magic Stories

These are very easy to read for early readers, maybe on the 2nd/3rd grade level of reading. There are numerous large words that are in the stories. The large font made reading the stories much easier. There is a sheet of “naughty 40” words that the children will need to look up and define after each story. The stories themselves are probably only about a 5-10 minute read for anyone that can read to themselves. I read these stories for the review in a short amount of time, so anyone with a firm grasp on reading should be good to read these aloud or to themselves.

With the stories there are some flash cards for the “naughty 40” list that can be printed on some card stock. These flash cards will allow the student to see the word in the correct context. After much repetition the words can then be used in daily use.

The Magic Stories are a short fun read and a great way to come across new words that the children may not have heard before.

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In His Grace,

Callie