Author: Mulga
ISBN: 978-0-7344-1670-4
RRP: $19.99
Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures is a vibrant and engaging rhyming picture book for younger children. This fun little story is written and illustrated by talented Sydney artist Mulga.
The illustrations are vibrant and popping with colour but they also involve some pretty intricate line work. I want to say something about the style of the illustrations but I just can’t think what it is. The pages are all solid colour so little eyes will have plenty to keep them occupied while you read. I can certainly see from these illustrations why Mulga’s Magical Colouring Book was an instant bestseller.
Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures tells the tale of Mulga drifting off to sleep one night and dreaming a magical dream of music. It wasn’t just any old music though, it was music created by a whole host of quirky creatures in the jungle jamming away.
The book reminds me of a Graeme Base style story, with lots of animals doing not very animal-y things. Children of all ages will be entranced by the interesting animals and the bright colours.
The animals spent their night making magical music and in the morning Mulga awoke inspired and put it all in a song.
I think the first thing that I noticed when I started reading the story is that our main man is exactly that, a man. Usually in children’s picture books the characters are children so to see a fully grown Mulga with his impressive beard was quite a surprise.
Unfortunately by the time I sat to look at this one all my children were peacefully sleeping but I do plan to read it with them tomorrow.
I can see this one becoming a firm favourite with children who love animals, and mine certainly do.
Dreams can be a funny thing, and they can have a lasting impact on waking up. Children can be, actually we all can be, completely spooked by a bad or scary dream and we need to remind ourselves that dreams aren’t real. I have to do this on a regular basis because my dreams get a little crazy. Mulga shows us here that we can use our dreams to inspire us in the waking world, we can use them to create something beautiful, something magical.
If we can capture our dreams and remember them, which I often don’t, we can immortalise them in song, we can draw them, paint them, write them.
Mulga’s Magical Musial Creatures is fun and quirky, vibrant and eye-catching, and I’m sure it will be a big hit with children of all ages.
Thanks to Hachette Children’s Books 10 of our Beauty and Lace Club members will be reading Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures with their children. I look forward to hearing what they think.
Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures is available now through Hachette Children’s Books, Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
My children love learning to read, and reading books, so yes please Michelle I would love to have this book to be able to both read it to Jade if I need, though she is learning quite fast how to spell the words and say them, and sitting reading the story to her, Thanks to you I have been able to encourage her reading ….. love to add this one …. for Jade Threlfo, 7 Hube court Huntingdale perth 6110 w.a. 0893983313. she will be 7 on the lst november.
Reading together is one of our most valued times as a family, and just our first impressions of the cover alone made us well aware we were going to have fun with this book! Words to describe the illustrations? “Psychedelic whimsy” comes to mind!
The larger than life, rainbow-coloured pages that jump out at you certainly perfectly complement the tone of revelry of the animals’ performances throughout the story’s “dream”.
We enjoyed replicating the musical actions of the animals together, making sounds and imitating the actions of playing the instruments as we read together. It was refreshing to see a wide variety of creatures, all uniquely illustrated in a quirky fashion, including some Australian favourites.
The personification of our narrator, Mulga himself, as a performer to the enchanting animal ensemble at the end created a surprising and warm conclusion to the story. My son commented that Mulga looked like a “cool dude!” It makes for a nice way of bringing the air of surreal back to earth; a pleasant way to end the story.
“Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures” is just as entertaining as it is stunning. It’s bright, uplifting, and positively charming. Everything one could want in a children’s book. We loved it.
After much anticipation we finally recieved our book in the mail. My sons are 3 and 6 and they were both very intrigued with the book from get go. Starting with the raised front cover. It was a added nice touch. The boys absolutely loved the story line. The book wasnt too long and bot too short and was able to entertain both a 3 and 6 year old. The other added bonus was all the animals and musical instruments within the story can be found on the firstpage of the book so once we had finished reading we were able to do a bit of a find and seek game also. I would highly recommend this book not only for its storyline/interaction but the illustration is also very eyecatching and colourful. Thanks heaps for our copy. I know its going to be a book that will be read over and over again.
My daughter loved reading this book so much that she took it to kindergarten for her teacher to read to everyone. She stated “this is one of the best books mamma.” The artwork of the illustrations are so magnificent and colourful as Mulga takes us on his dream journey. The antics of all the animals are so captivating, hilarious and soulful all at the same time. My daughter loved how they were playing instruments and wearing clothing. They also have a hip coolness about them too.
The story is so whimsical and rhythmical. the rhyming almost takes on it’s own song.
Such a beautiful book!!!
We loved it ! Such a bright colourful book to read . Was great fun , we love books that flow and rhyme . Miss 8 also took her book to school so the teacher could read to the class .
Thanks for the opportunity to review . My daughter has struggled with reading but is now reading by herself and enjoys getting books in the mail and her reading has improved so much .
What an absolutely beautiful book. I was really excited to read this to my very busy two year old son who rarely sits still for longer than two pages of a book.
Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures is a lovely story, filled with animals and musical instruments. Amazing illustrations full of colour captured master 2’s attention immediately and the rhyming nature of the book was fun for the reader and well as the ‘read to’.
It was the perfect length for smaller children with shorter attention spans and one that I have no doubt will become a regular in our household.
Of most surprise for me was the interest my 6month old showed in the book. He was transfixed by the illustrations and colour and wanted to hold the book long after reading had ceased.
This would make the perfect Christmas present.
Thanks again
Thanks BeautyandLace, what a lovely surprise to receive Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures last week. I was so excited to read this to my six year old son.
We were both instantly drawn to the bright vibrant illustrations and the raised feature of the cover and we enjoyed reading the book together. I would read one page and then my son read the next and we took turns until we finished the book together.
I liked how the story wasn’t too long or too short, it really captured his full attention.
We had good chats regarding all details in the pictures, spotting all the musical instruments and of course all the interesting animals playing their sweet tunes.
I thought that this was a terrific book, suitable for both boys and girls, with a great story and beautiful vibrant pictures to capture their attention.
Perfect timing for Christmas, as it would make a delightful gift,
Thanks to beauty n lace for a copy of this beautiful book.
This story is a very vibrant and beautifully illustrated story . Each page ending in rhymes.
Animals and magical creatures so vividly pictured.
Ideal for any age , this book is just perfect in length . Enjoyable and very instrumental .
Bright and colourful for the younger readers and each picture easily recognised .
Would be an ideal gift for any child .
Child and I really enjoyed the different type of colouring and patterns through out the book .
Bright, vibrant and easily read and enjoyed 😉
My 5 year old grandson and I had both been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mulga’s Magical Musical Creatures to review from the time I told him that the next book I would be reviewing was one to read with him, and we were not disappointed.
I love the bold intensity of the colors on the page and the “coloring book” styling of much of the illustration. The raised lettering and some of the detail on the front cover gives added interest. The black cloud in the top right corner on a bright shiny day being the only indicator of the author/illustrator is an amusing touch, (as is the fact that Mulga is the author Joel Moore’s alias!)
I also loved the fact that the hard cover copy I received to review was just the right size for small hands to hold and manipulate.
My grandson’s first question when we began to read the book was who was Mulga, so it was a delight to be able to show him the heavily bearded Mulga asleep in his bed charmingly surrounded by all the animals and instruments we were to encounter as we read the story.
The story itself gently and amusingly rhymes its way along with no more than 2 lines to each page, but each page has so much interest and detail in it you could easily spend hours reading this book without ever looking at the words!
At the line “Lions with crowns were lounging on rocks, singing in mics and wearing pink socks” my grandson collapsed laughing and for a while I wasn’t sure we were going to get past that page!
This is one of the best children’s books I have had the pleasure of reading recently and I would recommend it for children aged 3 to 7.
I read Mulga as soon as it arrived. I loved the story and illustrations but thought it far too young for my 8 yr old who is an avid reader. He started laughing as he read it. He said I love rhyming stories. He was very impressed with the colours and the instruments. He thought it was suitable for 2 – 8 year olds.. He loved “There were fishes in ponchos plucking guitars, prancing around under the starts. He found it very funny . He was interested to see that there was not even a pond nearby for the fish. He also loved the lions wearing pink socks.
We had a lot of fun discussing the use of instruments and all the detail in the drawings. A lovely book for young children