The Magic Paintbrush

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When the ship sailed to the middle of the sea, the young man drew a large wave and it destroyed the ship. Another wonderful book written by Julia Donaldson in which we see the story of a young girl named 'Shen' whom battles the greed of a selfish Emperor. I was recommended this book by a friend, I hadn't heard of this Julia Donaldson book so I was excited to read it. He was overjoyed when he finally got his hands on the paintbrush, and he brought his pals around to see his new acquisition. The story narrates the journey of the young boy and how he decides to use the power of the magic brush for the good of society.

Through Shen's courage and well grounded morals she refuses and uses her paintbrush to frighten the Emperor away. They so eloquently depict a part of Chinese culture and have produced a story that feels that it could be passed through generations of families- both for the reader and those within the narrative. The story, whilst there are some advanced aspects to its telling, is suitable for three to eight years olds, which is made possible by the inclusion of cross curricular traits. Like, stationnary, money for traveling, and i will draw any thing that i thing the poor people will need.I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fable, I loved the magic and hope within it- the teasing out that there is a difference between need and greed and that solidarity is owed more to some than to others. But no, it was steaming and warm and cosy like the nicest dessert you’ve ever eaten on a cold winter’s day. But the emperor hears about shen and decides he will use her gift to add to his already enormous wealth, Shen of course refuses and is thrown into jail by him.He dipped his paintbrush into the nearest colour – brown – and before Digby could even ask one sentence more, Arthur had painted a great big cage around the tiger. The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson is what I would define as a Robin Hood style story told as a poem. It is a book which is diverse in many ways - whilst beautiful, imaginative and compelling at the same time can be toted as a timeless classic in my eyes. So he painted some yummy sushi and the tiger must really have been very hungry, because before they knew it, the sushi had disappeared. The other message that is important is that children may learn that greed is not a good thing but instead it is important to care for others less fortunate then our selves.

We turned the narrative poem (The Spider and the Fly) into a playscript, by setting it out correctly and adding detailed stage directions. The story is simple yet beautiful with added lovely rhymes from Julia Donaldson and each page is a painting illustrated by Joel Stewart that accompanies the story nicely. We began to use some of our new words from Science to describe them, such as; hard, flexible, transparent etc. Alongside the accompanying illustrations, the book conveys the cultural and historical differences between England and China, which can be explored further as additional spin-off projects. I wonder if Edward Said would find this an example of his problematic "Orientalism" and I feel a little uncomfortable with it.But a few days later, the rich man whom Ma Liang helped heard that the magic paint brush could turn everything to life.