Little Legends 4 – The Magic Looking Glass

Tom Percival's The Magic Looking Glass is a fairy-tale adventure for 5 year olds about Hansel and Gretel, a very un-scary wolf and a mirror with big plans.

What happens

In Tale Town there's a Story Tree, and every leaf holds a different story. Run your finger along one and the tale happens inside your head.

At the yearly trimming ceremony, trolls get past the town's defences. A water troll grabs the magic shears and cuts off the tree's newest shoot. The slippery mayor then puts the whole town on lockdown.

Hansel and Gretel slip away to follow the trail. In the woods they meet Wolfie. He's the Big Bad Wolf's son, he smells of fabric softener, and he'd much rather make friends than gobble grannies.

The trail leads to a fortress made of living trees, packed with trolls. Inside, a magic looking glass begs the twins for help. Should they trust it? (Probably not!)

Things go wrong in the funniest way. The mirror swaps the twins' personalities, then turns them against each other. Poor Wolfie is stuck in the middle trying to keep the peace.

The jokes come thick and fast. There's a babbling brook that won't stop talking, the twins' dad keeps marrying new stepmums, and the mirror's evil speeches keep collapsing into terrible puns. Grown-ups reading aloud will get a few laughs too.

Wolfie is the heart of it. He's nervous about everything, he chatters when he's scared, and he's much braver than he thinks. If your reader is a bit of a worrier, they'll probably love him.

It's the fourth Little Legends book, but it's easy to jump into without the others.

What to read next

Fancy more of Tale Town? Go back to The Great Troll Rescue, an earlier adventure where Red has to rescue Rapunzel, Anansi and Jack from the top of a wicked witch's tower.