The Magic Pencil [Paperback]

Ms. Karen E. Dabney (Author), Mr. Karl C Klein (Cover Design), Ms. Brenda Y. Lewis (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 21, 2009

Malcolm Bakersfield's new classmate, Nia Stellar is "not your average girl." Exciting and fantastic events occur, seemingly to do with her and a scruffy, used pencil. Nia challenges Malc in many ways and he discovers new abilities and sides to himself. We join him in his quest to find the truth to to the power of the pencil.
And, like him, we just may learn a lot about ourselves.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Karen's work is unrivaled in young adult literature."
--Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of A Place to Stand





"The copy that I purchased for my students looks like The Velveteen Rabbit. The students pass it around and whisper about it."
--Regina Hendrix-Brown, educator

"[The Magic Pencil is] particularly interesting and valuable... It is a very clean and well-written book. Certainly one that I recommend..." --Dr. David Rambeau, Executive Producer of For My People/Project BAIT

"The copy that I purchased for my students looks like The Velveteen Rabbit. The students pass it around and whisper about it."
--Regina Hendrix-Brown, educator

From the Author

My reasons for writing The Magic Pencil

• To encourage the uninspired, reluctant and discouraged reader to develop the desire to read for pleasure. To develop the desire to read for greater knowledge.
• To increase self-esteem; especially within African American/black youth.
• To remove the stigma applied to African American/black people when they use colloquial language. To recognize all people engage in this behavior. To understand that there are special and new words used when one is a part of a particular group (the language among computer technicians, for example) which may or may not become known among the general population.
• To increase vocabulary by creating a desire to know exactly what a particular word means and how it relates to what is occurring.
• To demonstrate the opportunities available by learning how to effectively navigate unfamiliar territory through education.
• To honor the "community/home" language of the speaker and to realize s/he may be articulate within that language. To, thereby, foster a willingness in the person to adopt other ways of speaking while retaining his or her present mode of speech -- if needed and desired.
• To become respectful and tolerant of the differences in others. To focus on the commonalities between self and others.
• To foster self-respect, self-determination and self-reliance.
• To learn how to constructively debate over preferences and beliefs.
• To learn to be empathetic towards another's problems.
• To work together for the greater good.
• To feel hopeful about the future.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Dabs and Company; 1st edition (August 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615282911
• ISBN-13: 978-0615282916
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,693,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karen E. Dabney resides in Detroit, Michigan.

She possesses a BFA from The University of Michigan and a BA from the University of Detroit Mercy. Karen also works with youth in many capacities; thereby keeping her inner-child well-fed.

Publications as author or artist include: 44th Barack H. Obama The Commemorative Edition, Michigan Chronicle, For My People newspaper, Journal of Non-White Concerns, The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research Newsletter, The University of Michigan Dearborn's The Michigan Journal, To the Poet in You, and Necessary Roughness: a self-published book of poetry.

Karen attended writing workshops with the Voices of Our Nation's Arts Foundation and The Hurston/Wright Foundation. She is a member of the National Conference of Artists, the Motown Writers' Network, Detroit Unity Poets and Authors Society, Urban Theater Magazine, and Broadside Poet's Theatre.

The Magic Pencil is Karen's first novel for young adults. It is written for all youth but especially the uninspired and reluctant readers. Karen believes her book will introduce them to the joy of reading.

She especially intends to reach black male youth by letting see themselves in the characters of The Magic Pencil.

From the Author:

My reasons for writing The Magic Pencil

To encourage the uninspired, reluctant and discouraged reader to develop the desire to read for pleasure.

To develop the desire to read for greater knowledge.

To increase self-esteem; especially within African American/black youth.

To remove the stigma applied to African American/black people when they use colloquial language. To recognize all people engage in this behavior. To understand that there are special and new words used when one is a part of a particular group (the language among computer technicians, for example) which may or may not become known among the general population.

To increase vocabulary by creating a desire to know exactly what a particular word means and how it relates to what is occurring.

To demonstrate the opportunities available by learning how to effectively navigate unfamiliar territory through education.

To honor the "community/home" language of the speaker and to realize s/he may be articulate within that language. To, thereby, foster a willingness in the person to adopt other ways of speaking while retaining his or her present mode of speech -- if needed and desired.

To encourage respect and tolerance of the differences in others. To focus on the commonalities between self and others.

To foster self-respect, self-determination and self-reliance.

To encourage constructive debate over preferences and beliefs.

To foster empathy towards another's problems.

To learn to work together for the greater good.

To become hopeful about the future.


PROMOTE LITERACY! KEEP A MIND LIT!

The Magic Pencil is available in paperback and as an e-book.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hip Hip Hooray!! The Magic Pencil Is One Amazing Read!!, November 24, 2010

By 

Ardannyl "Live Ladies of Literature" (Detroit, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magic Pencil (Paperback)

The Magic Pencil may be a fictonal read however, the points enclosed within this story line are so realistic. Malcom, a young African American male meets a dynamic little girl by the name of Nia. As class mates, they establish a true friendship which consist of them learning together, playing together, and attending special events together such as Ancestors' Night.

Malcom, a kid that just so happens to have both street and book smarts discovers that Nia may be too good to be true. Everyone she surrounds herself within the school makes a change for the better. Even the principal of the school has taken notice. There is something very amazing Nia's touch. Especially when it comes down to her touching the pencils that the students use to complete their assignments and daily school activities.

Aware of the old saying that you cant please everyone, some of the students begin to show jealously and hatred toward Nia for no apparent reason. Not allowing this to get in her way on her mission to continue to do good, towards the end of the story, Nia states very important message to the school. Spoken like a true hero, she encourages parents and teachers to become more involved in their children and students learning process, and administrators to do what they need to do to ensure that the students are successful within their learning environment.

Kudos to Ms Dabney for doing such a excellent job on this spectacular literary read.


Adra Young
Author of: The Everyday Living of Children & Teens Monologues Series

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for the youth!!, October 4, 2010

By 

Paulette Dabney - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Magic Pencil (Paperback)

This book is a great read for all ages, especially the youth. Malcolm is an excellent student that enjoys getting good grades. He is all about getting good grades and doing your best at school. His friend, Nia is also a good example of an excellent student. If a child, as well as a parent believes in himself the possibilities are endless. We must never give up on our youth, they are our future!!!!! Great Job Karen!!!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Destined To Be A Classic!, October 30, 2010

By 

P.W. Dowdy "Patricia W. Dowdy" (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magic Pencil (Paperback)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

The Magic Pencil is a delightful telling of a remarkable friendship between a boy and a girl who take to each other instantly because they somehow are soul connected.

Middle child and sixth grade dreamer Malcolm Bakersfield narrates Karen E. Dabney's young adult novel. From the moment Nia walks into his homeroom class, Malcolm's mind and his heart stand at attention. Full of kindness, thoughtfulness and patience, Nia is a very special person.

Her only flaw seems to be that all of her pencils are more beaten-up than anyone else's in the class. One day Malcolm needs a pencil to take an English test, Nia gives him one of her scruffy looking pencils.

When he learns the next day that he received the second highest score in the class, he changes his mind about Nia's raggedy pencils. He wonders if his high score was due to some magic which came to him from Nia's battered cache. From that point on, Dabney's story is well on its way through suspenseful scenes, which cascade finally into a blast of a satisfying end.

Dabney sculpts The Magic Pencil with skill, employing the dialects of both casual and formal English. While at school and in the presence of certain adults, these African American children speak Proper. In the black community, Proper is when one pronounces final consonants, when one conjugates verbs, and where slang is always taboo.

Still, while among their peers--except for Nia--these same children engage in a more relaxed use of the English language. Slang is preferred, subject-verb agreement matters little, and the enunciation of consonants--final or otherwise--is optional.

Dabney mixes the two dialects with the tenacity of a Joel Chandler Harris and the clarity of purpose of a Mark Twain. As in the works of these two great American folklorists, The Magic Pencil reveals its storytelling beauty through the eyes and the imagination of children daring to discover what life should mean for them.

From its prologue to its epilogue, Dabney offers a refreshing look at a collection of characters who will charm their way into any reader's heart.

This wonderful novel for older children should be on the gift list for every such child in each of our lives.

It ought to be given to happy children and to children with problems, to high IQ children and to children who are slow readers. Dabney's work will make excellent reading as well for adults who grew up with Harris's stories of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox, and Twain's escapades of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

The Magic Pencil makes its appearance at a time when children need most to include in their lives the adventures one can only find by reading books. Parents and teachers can use Karen E. Dabney's novel to motivate young people to look within and to believe in their own strength when facing whatever issues they may meet along life's path.

Destined to be a classic in its own right, two copies of The Magic Pencil will occupy space in my library. The scruffy looking one I will read and lend out over the years. The pristine first edition copy, I will preserve as an investment for my family, for generations to come.