The Pennymores and the Curse of the Invisible Quill

Eric Kosher's The Pennymores and the Curse of the Invisible Quill is a magical adventure for 9 year olds set in a kingdom where writing has been banned.

What happens

Parker Pennymore is the king's daughter, with two sisters and a little brother. Every night their old caretaker Lady Julie tells them stories about magic writers, and about an evil one called Dagamar who can take away people's voices for good.

Their dad insists it's just a bedtime story. Then one night their little brother Riley vanishes from his bed, and three words are left burned into the window frame.

A year later, Parker is eleven and in trouble with everyone. Whenever she has to recite something out loud her mind goes blank (the other children call her Freeze Pop). She's been expelled twice, and four tutors have quit.

What nobody knows is that she runs the Plumes, a secret society teaching other kids to write. That's a very big deal, because writing is punishable by death and a group called the Illiterates hunts down anyone caught with a quill.

When her parents decide to send her away to an aunt she's never met, Parker plans one last heist. She and her little sister Aven break into the boarded-up castle library to get back her confiscated quill. Inside, the books are flying round the room like birds!

That library is the best bit. Paper boats fire spitball cannonballs at each other, torch flames hop about like frogs and a rainbow inkwell conducts an orchestra.

Parker is great company. She's cross, brave and very funny inside her own head. The way she feels about writing will ring true for any child who finds it easier to put things on paper than to say them out loud.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

A boy from Parker's class is dragged under the sea at a festival, and she keeps having nightmares about it. Her brother is taken in the night. The Illiterates drag suspected writers out of their homes.

For a sensitive reader that could be a lot. If your reader likes their magic with real danger in it, they'll probably be hooked.

What to read next

And if they enjoy these sisters, they might love A Pinch of Magic too. The three Widdershins sisters find out about a family curse on Betty's thirteenth birthday, which happens to be Halloween.