Customer Reviews

Donald Duck and the Magic Stick (Disney's Wonderful World of Reading)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Donald Duck and the magic stick is a wonderful story about one who doubts coming to the reality of belief. The story is engagingly told and entertainingly illustrated...it is great reading for all ages.

As the story opens, Uncle Donald must send his three nephews (Huey, Dewey, and Louie) that he has lovingly raised off to be apprenticed in a trade. The nephews leave and are taught by a furniture maker, a farmer and a woodcutter respectively. The boys complete their apprenticeships, mastering their trades. As each of the boys leaves to return home, they are given a gift my their teachers.

The furniture maker gives Huey a magic table. The table can produce any kind of food one wishes. All one has to say is "Table Set!" The farmer gives Dewey a magic donkey. The donkey produces money out of its ear. All one has to say is "Donkey, Donkey, wiggle your ear" and the coins start falling out.

As Huey and Dewey journey home they each stop for the night at an old inn. The Innkeeper is the bad guy of the story. He steals the magic gifts given to the boys and replaces them with normal objects that look the same as the magic ones. The boys each return home expecting all the while that they still are in possession of the magic items. They both try to show Uncle Donald (who does not believe in magic) their gifts, but their gifts do not work and Uncle Donald mocks them for believing in magic.

Huey and Dewey figure out that the Innkeeper is to blame. They send a warning to Louie; who is finishing up his apprenticeship with the wood cutter. The wood cutter gives Louie a magic stick for the journey home. Louie uses the magic stick to retrieve the items lost by his brothers. He then puts on a wonderful show for his still doubting Uncle. Donald is amazed-and comes to believe in magic. They then live happily ever after.

Donald Duck and the magic stick is a classic children's tale. Like all great children's stories, it speaks to the hearts of adults as well as children. All of us, with the possible exception of the most childlike among us, are at least a little like Donald in this story. Each of us has some amount of hardhearted unbelief poisoning our souls. I know I do. Donald could not believe in magic. Many of us also bear the scars of our age and cannot wholly believe in the reality of the God and His love for us. We would do well to model our belief on the simple faith of Huey, Dewey, and Louie and heed the words of the Savior (from Luke 18:17): "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."

I recommend this book very highly.

This book is one of many published by Disney in 1974, and in my opinion is one of the better ones. The story flows nicely, and does not exhibit any of the choppiness that some of Disney's other books from this era have. The story is also told well, and is told in a nice, simple, straightforward manner that appeals to me. The story itself is cute, and as there is no way I can improve on the plot summary offered by the next review, I won't try.

The illustrations are bright, bold, colorful, and friendly. They do a wonderful job of showings the character's emotions, and Huey, Dewey and Louie are just really cute no matter what they happen to be doing. What with the great illustrations and fun plot, this makes for a good book.

Loggie-log-log-log

The book came promptly as promised and was in much better condition than I was expecting. It was practically new, especially for being so old. I'm thrilled to have these books that I loved as a child for my little girl.

I purchased this book for my children back in the 80's. It soon became worn out because we used it so much. This definitely was one of my children's and grandchildren's most favorite book. I even had to order a used one for a grandchild because she just couldn't get enough of it. I wish they would republish it and put it in a better hard cover that would last over time and use. Timeless and a favorite.

The book was in excellent shape. My boys love it. It took almost 30 days for me to receive this boook from the vender. That is entirely to long. There is no excuse for that amount of delay.