I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

The Spell of a Story is a beautiful children's picture book about a little girl who discovers a love for books for the first time. The book starts as school breaks up for the summer, and the homework the teacher assigns is to read a whole book over the holidays. This is bad news as she hates books and hates reading. When she goes to the library with her mum/sister? - they suggest a book for her to read that they themselves enjoyed at her age, and she reluctantly decides to give it a go. The book takes her on a magical adventure, and she finds she can't put the book down - she reads it eating her lunch, in the bath, and hiding under her covers with a torch. The next day, she wants to return to the library to check this newfound enjoyment isn't just a one-off.
I loved the illustrations in this book, and the expressions on the girls face made me smile. They go from washed out colours to bright and vivid when she enters the story she's reading, which was a great contrast.

A very pleasant look at a girl becoming a reader – at first I didn't much like this or her, but the way the spirit of the story is allowed to imbue her on these pages is pretty decent. Of course, the flaw in such books is that they are clearly preaching to the converted – I doubt this will be shown to people and work universally as an advert for reading – but of this type it's a perfectly reasonable contender.

Here we meet a girl who's all excited for summer vacation . . . until she learns that her one assignment is to read a book. Ugh! She hates reading, OR at least she thinks she does. In truth, she just hasn't met the right book. When she does, it's pure enchantment - and a reader is born!

The author's illustrations are charming, alternating the girl's more monotone life with the wild bright colors found within the pages of her book . . . AND her imagination.

This is a terrific story that will delight the reader inside us all.

Thank you Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for access to this arc.

I know that people who don't like to read exist. I've met a few of them. I just don't understand how you could possibly not like to read!! Well, this book might just change a few of those people and get them to see that reading is awesome. There are adventures, quicksand valleys, dancing with enchanted frogs (yes, please!), crossing The Big Piranha Swamp, and a tea party with witches all in search of ingredients needed to ... what? What? WHAT? I have to know!


By the end of the book, a young book hater has been converted to ... what? What? WHAT? You want to know? Well, you'll need to read this charming (and charmingly illustrated) book to find out. A world of wonderfulness is just waiting at the local library. And a cute cat is waiting at home to sit with this newly converted book lover.

Coming June 4, 2025 The Spell of a Story by Mariajo Ilustrajo. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This children's book is an adorable beckoning to reluctant readers. I especially loved how the illustrations complemented the main character's dive into wonder. Kids will also love looking at the small details and labels hidden in the illustrations. A graphic novel style was a perfect choice to reach children who might be hesitant to read. Bravo!

I love this book so so much. Our main character is given the task of reading one whole book during summer vacation! But in that, she discovers magic contained within “the spell of a story”.

The illustrations are stunning and I love the progression. At the beginning, her world is neutral/beige. While reading, the illustrations are bright, fully colored. After returning to the “real world”, it still has the basis of neutral/beige, but there’s more bits of colors as the magic of reading follows her. It feels so subtly magical – similar to reading!

This feels like a fantastic book to read to the kids that might have not found their love of reading yet. I will definitely be recommending it to teacher/librarian friends.

This book is all about the magic of books. It is a bit of a cliched story but it is beautifully presented through some really well thought-out pictures. I may use this in one of my courses as the illustration is just so lovely.

A young girl comes home after her last day of school with terrible news. She has to read an entire book during the school holidays.

Just one? For the entire school holidays? That is terrible news.

She hates books.

Blasphemy!

Her sister takes her to the library,

Ooh, the mother ship!

where she’s introduced to the book that will change her life.

Okay, so what you’re telling me is the sister is the hero of this story.

I love books. I love books about books. I love books about loving books.

The words in this one are wonderful, sure, but it’s the illustrations I keep going back to. Our soon to be kindred spirit is absolutely adorable!

Seeing our reluctant reader glued to the page is what joy is made of. Witnessing the moment she transforms into one of us is pure magic.

Prior to their visit to the library, the colours are muted. You can see more vivid colours beginning to escape the pages in the library and when the girl begins to read. Once her imagination sparks, though, that’s when the colours come to life.

I appreciated the sneaky inclusion of the author’s other books on the classroom bookshelf. Be on the lookout, as I always am, for Mary Poppins. You may also find a Lost polar bear.

You don’t need a spell to convince me of the life changing magic of books. My hope for this book is that it’s the first adventure for tomorrow’s bookworms.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, an imprint of The Quarto Group, for the opportunity to read this picture book.

I love this!!! The symbolism of colors, it’s all full when the character didnt like book but suddenly it’s very vibrant and full of colors once she started reading. It was nice!

Oh my gosh I think this should be in every little ones library!!! I loved this story especially for little ones that aren’t really avid readers. The illustrations aren’t overly bright but pull you into the story and add a wonderful layer.

I love it. I love it. I love it so much. I would purchase for myself and for my friends!!
This is a story about a girl who did not like reading and then got a taste of the magic of stories - Oh! It's wonderfully written, the colours are beautiful, the illustrations are gorgeous.
It makes me fall in love with books even more, and it reminds me of all the magical things about books and what it do to us.
AMAZING!

This is such a good story and I could definitely see children who don't love reading picking this up and giving reading another shot. I'm so glad I could read this early.

This was the CUTEST wee story. As an avid lifelong bookworm, it was really beautiful to see the journey from ick to magnificence in the relationship with stories, and the illustrations are full of life.

Story is cute and the art style was really cool. It took us on a journey and will be adding this to my beginning of the school year read aloud.

4 stars

This is a beautifully-illustrated picture book about the magic of reading and everything that opens up for you when you discover that one book that turns you into a reader. It's definitely a book that I would encourage my KS1 colleagues to read to their classes or one that I would share in a school assembly about reading.
After being blown away by Flooded by the same author last year, I think I was expecting this book to work on different levels in the same way, and it didn't for me. It's still a stunning book with an important message however.

A story about learning to love stories and the magic in reading.

I would use this book as a tool, to attempt to broaden the mind of a young reader, who was resistant to reading. This would be a perfect book to have in a kindergarten or first grade classroom. I cannot imagine that this is a book that will be returned to often however because to kids who are already readers, they may find the contents obvious.

The illustrations here, to me are the best part of this cute book. Very cute and engaging.

This book made me smile the whole time I read it. I love it when someone finds the love of reading. This book is the perfect example of what it is like when you read a good book. What a cute book! I liked the layout and the pictures were also good.

A wonderful story encouraging reading with beautiful illustrations. A great story for children who may not have yet found that perfect book to steer them toward the love of reading.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

"The Spell of a Story" is everything you could want in a children's book—adventure, drama, a tiny moral to the story, and a story-within-a-story. Oh, and lively illustrations to keep things extra interesting. When the main character is told to read a book over vacation, she can't imagine anything worse—and things don't get better when her mother takes her to the library. But it doesn't take long before she falls into the story and things start to change...

What I loved most about this is the way the character falls into the story and we get to see snippets of what's going on between the pages, all in full color and with plenty of adventure. The witches are my favorite; mischevious or no, they look like a delight to hang out with. I didn't need a book like this as a kid (from a very young age my father could stick me in the back of a conference room with a few books and I'd be happy as a clam for the duration), but I still would have loved reading it, just as I loved reading it now. After all, life is so much more colorful with a book or twelve...

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

OH MY GOD! I DUNNO WHY I LOVE THIS BOOK! It is so cute and really tells us that to love reading book you need to love one book first then another-books-to-love will follow behind.

Thank you FLC/Quarto for sending me this Advance Reader Copy.