Stickerino, magical lollypop sticks, pure fantasy, nice illustrations. ( )

Rosie's Magic Horse is a story about being able to realize your dreams if you believe enough. It is a silly adventure story from the points of view of a girl named Rosie whose parents are struggling to pay the bills, and her sentient collection of popsicle sticks in an old cigar box. The newest stick in the box wishes to become something new and special, and Rosie wishes to help her parents with the bills that they don't know how they will pay. Their combined wishes turn the box of sticks into a magical shapeshifting flying horse, and they go off to seek treasure.

I enjoy the straightforward fun and silliness of this story, which counters the sadness of a family's economic struggles with a fantastical solution. Although books like "Tight Times" by Barabara Shook Hazen and Trina Schart Hyman can help students to start thinking about the reality of poverty, the gleeful and optimistic fun and magical solution of this book is valuable too for encouraging creativity and aspiration in the face of adversity.

Rosie's Magic Horse seems like it would be great fun to read aloud. An example, from the first page, of some of the wonderful language: "There was an ice-pop stick with ice-cold sweetness all around it, white on the inside, pink on the outside." Quentin Blake's illustrations are also terrific, of course. I've enjoyed his pictures since I was a kid working my way through everything Roald Dahl had written. ( )

This is a fantasy story about a young girl, Rosie, who collects old ice cream popsicle sticks. One day her parents begin talking about how they don't know how they will pay their bills. That night she wishes that her container full of popsicle sticks will turn to a treasure to pay the bills. However, instead the sticks create the shape of a horse and at midnight transforms into a real horse. Rosie and the horse, Stickerino travel all around through jungles and deserts to a beach where they spot a treasure. After tricking the pirates Rosie and Stickerino gallop off with the treasure and her family can pay for the bills. ( )

As an adult this was a bit too far fetched. A girls Popsicle stick collection wishes to be something better and when the girl wishes to help her parents out with their bills they rise to the occasion. They become stickerino and help save the treasure from some dastardly pirates.

It fails to really bring back the story to the Popsicle sticks, but just gets a brief mentioned at the end. But for the kids it's a bit more magical and out there that it's amusing enough for them. Not a multiple read type story but worth a glance to help show that their is a solution to anything no matter how imaginative it is. ( )

While I'm typically not a fan of illustrator [a:Quentin Blake's|146|Quentin Blake|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1357194118p2/146.jpg] style, the watercolor spreads in this one really make the book, and some of them are stunning. The whimsical story may be fun for school age kids, but it's a bit weak and not very memorable. I actually decided not to share this story with my four year old, as I don't want to give him the idea it's his responsibility to come up with fantastical ways to pay the bills of our household ... ( )