David Lawrence (text) and P. J. Reece with Cherie Dignam (illustrators), Finn and the Pen, EK Books, March 2025, 256 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781921966538
Part of a series of middle-grade novels about a pen with magic properties, this entertaining and amusing story of a boy who loves writing but lives in an appalling foster family is great fun.
Finn’s foster parents, the Grimshaws, hate children but love the fame and fortune that publicising their ‘kind’ hearts brings. Finn discovers that what he draws with the pen he acquires at a market stall comes true, so he manages to run away, looking to find out who his parents were, and survive with his hand-drawn credit card and other accessories. However, he feels responsible for the four younger foster siblings he has left behind and his conscience troubles him over some of the decisions he makes with the pen’s abilities.
How the whole situation is resolved is rather incredulous, but the storyline is funny and engaging and humorous illustrations are scattered throughout. What young reader wouldn’t want to own a pen like this!
Teaching notes are available at the publisher’s website.
Reviewed by Lynne Babbage
