Customer Reviews

The Magic Pencil

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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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

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!!!!

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.

Karen E. Dabney's new book is more than just a book about a kid named Malcolm and a magic pencil. The Magic Pencil is a literary hand-basket of edutainment galore. Dabney's literary treat is culturally refreshing, poetically amusing, and full of the Disney-like magic that will surely delight anyone who is interested in fresh and colorful reading.

Malcolm is at the center of this tale and is burdened with the arduous task of whether to do the right thing. He is hopeful, optimistic, even in circumstances that warrant a cynic's pessimistic outlook. He is ultimately caught between the binary realities within the rambunctious context of family, friends, life, and what it all means to him.

Dabney's characters are richly textured, and she worked extra hard not to surrender her characters to age-ole stereotypes, giving meticulous consideration to cultural detail, as well as a useful lesson (and critique?) on the Shakespearean question of colloquial language - to use it or not to use it. As a matter of fact, Dabney's grasp of the colloquial language is so masterful that, at times, I felt as though I were reading a Geneva Smitherman book.

Given the quality of books rolling off the press these days, The Magic Pencil is a rare book. It is a marvelously didactic read, and can actually teach and instruct readers with good, sound, moral, philosophy. Haki Madhubuti once said that a book must engage the community. In that sense, Dabney's book is accountable and responsible to the task of what this sort of book ought to achieve. That makes TMP a must-read. Good work, Dabney!



Push Nevahda and the Vicious Circle: scenes from a random life
Detroit:: The Black Bottom Community (Images of America)

The Magic Pencil by Karen E. Dabney
Dabs & Company
244 pages


What an awesome piece of cultural artwork all collectively assembled inside of a book.

As a parent, I loved the way LIVING black history is effortlessly integrated within the casual conversations among peers and adults. I loved the way the adult characters are portrayed and provided such strength in character, volition and beliefs. Even the scenery doesn't infringe upon belief systems in anyway, Malcolm just explains things as he sees them without real judgment or disdain. The feelings he has about his brother's "illegal activities" give credence to how we ALL make our beds in life. We choose our options.
Two siblings with the same opportunities...see their choices in different ways for different reasons.

Yet Malcolm never gives up hope... he looks up to his big brother as his protector from the streets at the same time. So many of our children are in this scenario. Malcolm's mother's talents and dreams are sprinkled in and provide such an awesome foundation for his optimism on life's possibilities.

The manners, traditions and cultural experiences shared in the story are just timeless. The classroom anticipation and preparation of welcoming in a "Barack Obama" era are nicely incorporated. The characters are not stereotypes. They feel real and possible. Not just being bilingual as the characters describe their existence, but bi-cultural. The conversation that Nia and Malcolm had about mass media explains a great deal about the role of parenting and society can play in deciding "WE WANT MORE UNIQUE GIFTS PRESENTED TO THE WORLD AND NOT LESS!"

So many careful planted message seeds exist within Magic Pencil that it truly deserves a workbook/study guide!

Loved it and look forward to sharing with other "YOUNG STARS!" I am so pleased that U introduced this to the world!


Joan E. Gosier, author. Cotton Pickin' Paycheck-Paperback Version-A 21st Century Journal of Escape from Slavery (1805-1988)

Just finished reading The Magic Pencil. It is a must read for young adults because it is very relatable to their lives. The author has paid much attention to detail as it relates to the colloquial language of young adults.

I envision young people reading this novel again and again!

Jan Cunningham

No matter what you might think The Magic Pencil by Karen E. Dabney is about--it is more! More educational, more fun, more poetic, more inspirational...and more magical! I thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning from this book!

This story is the personal account by a special young man, Malcolm Bakersfield, who was first to notice the magic pencil! Malcolm is very intelligent and always did well in school until he used his first magic pencil and became a straight "A" student! That's all I'm saying about that now because Malcolm has also shared about a lot of different topics!

My favorite story was about what happened on Halloween. Instead of just dressing up and going out for candy, Malcolm and his friend Nia went to a celebration of Ancestor's Night, where you dress as cultural heroes and some of those attending share a short story about the individual they are portraying. Plus there are special foods to eat and games to play. I thought this was a grand alternative that would be both educational and fun! I think I would go as Holly Springs, a lady I just learned about recently and who impressed me with her spunky actions!

In addition, I also enjoyed all of the family issues that were discussed--at home and elsewhere. Malcolm's big brother lived with his father and seemed to have a lot more freedom, but Malcolm was concerned about him because he was thinking of dropping out of school. There were also visits at church, to Malcolm's cousins, and to attend sports events or just play together. No matter what was happening, you could tell that there was much love and concern about others.

Malcolm's friends were also important to him and he had become close to the new girl, Nia. Both of them not only cared for each other as friends, but were able to share about any topic of interest or concern. Malcolm was also anxious to help his friends become better in school and would spend time talking about assignments with them.

Now there is also one very important thing about Malcolm's story that you should know. As explained in the front:

If you don't understand him at first,
Try reading aloud then you'll have a thirst...
You might agree with him or have a different view,
It's OK wit him if it's OK witchu! (p. vi)

Malcolm writes like we speak every day, but he knows he should use standard English to make his good grades. Nia, the new girl, spoke "proper" English most of the time, except maybe when they're outside playing. I've always been pretty good in standard English, but I had some problems with words like "warsh" for wash or "crik" for creek, cause that's how we used to say them where I lived.

So, to me, it was so much fun to read and hear Malcolm in my head, because we all need to remember that, we can use standard English and learn all those rules--but that doesn't mean we can't understand one another when we want to speak cool!

Needless to say, I loved The Magic Pencil by Karen E. Dabney. If you have children, please get this book as a special Christmas stocking stuffer! It really is a must-read!

G. A. Bixler

Ms. Dabney has created an interesting and educational novel with a touch of Magical Realism. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The main character, Malcolm, makes a charming cultural ambassador for his African-American community as does his magical friend Nia, who is a sort of educational muse.

Ms. Dabney is obviously a talented linguist, switching back and forth freely between Ebonics and standard English. I would have welcomed this book in high school, as I grew up in a low-diversity area. If I have a critique, it's that her main characters arrive on the scene fully developed and don't change much throughout the novel. But with Magical Realism, the rules are meant to be broken!

Karen Dabney's debut novel "The Magic Pencil" is a great edition to the children book genre. Malcolm, the narrator of this magical tale gives the reader, whether adult or child, a clear perspective of what it is like to grow up in a world of adults while maintain respect among his peers.

If you have ever wondered how to interpret kids speak, wonder no more. Dabney expertly breaks down the language of young people and explain how children quickly adopt to "code switching" when they are with their parents.

My only regret about The Magic Pencil is that it did not come along when I was raising my son. I highly recommend this book for children ages eight to sixteen and parents or soon to be parents.

Harold Michael Harvey, Author
PAPER PUZZLE

The Magic Pencil is an inspiring novel for older kids (and anybody else who doesn't mind reading about them, and remembering childhood). It's a full-length novel at 241 [244] pages. The chapters are very short so you feel like you're reading even faster than you are.



It's written in first person, in "black vernacular English" (that's actually a language--not just slang. Slang comes and goes). I had NO trouble following that and the spellin' of all dat (I'm sure I just butchered it here - ha ha). I followed it instantly; in fact it was cool, festive and enticed me on. The language tone perfectly fit the mindful main character who was able to switch how he talked, changing from informality to formality depending on what group he was in, and who was in earshot.



The book is mostly a "one kid show" as Malcolm casually chats on the page to us about his frugal life in the city. His family, school, church, friends, sports, music, possessions -all the bits of his life are all duly noted almost as if he's just talking to himself about himself and what he's up to. It's as if he has a hyperactive self-awareness. Malcolm is coming to realize that he's gifted.



A main object of attention in the story is the humble school pencil that is the lightning rod in his studies. The positive energy from the pencil is contagious. Mia [Nia] had touched it. She is a gifted kid who bumped up a grade and comes into his life. Does she brings out the best in all the people around her, naturally, or is she some sort of a magical Mary Poppins kid who journeys from school to school to deliberately improve the lives of everybody?



Overall, the book is a moral lesson in how to live nice. Have respect for yourself and others. If you do that you will bring out the best in others. If you are aware of your own power you can make great change in your own community.



I give it an enthusiastic well-sharpened TEN PENCILS UP !!!

REVIEW BY PETER JOSEPH SWANSON