Review Detail

‘The Magic Pencil’ by Luis Amavisca, illustrated by Alicia Gomez Camus, is a story of diversity, inclusion, kindness, and understanding. It tells the story of Margarita, Daniel, and Charlie, a group of kids who have families that don’t look so “traditional,” but who love each other and find goodness and strength in one another. Margarita lives with her two dads and Daniel and Charlie live with their two moms. When they get together, they find themselves working together to try to feed a hungry cat. The problem is that the cat is in Mrs. Cranky’s yard. They named her that because she tends to be in a dour mood, or so it seems.

However, as they feed the cat, Mrs. Cranky appears and gives them some gifts—a pencil, a sharpener, and an eraser. With these gifts, they find that they can do magic to bring more diversity and more positivity to the world. At first, they draw things for themselves, but before long, they realize there is more to what they can do, and they start drawing more carefully, illustrating items that help shape the needs of a diverse population, from houses to hospitals to schools to hearts, all in an effort to help ensure more love all around. It turns out that, in the end, Mrs. Cranky did just the opposite of her nickname. She brought them all together and helped them to bring more peace and kindness to light.