Children's Books: Magical Series by Penelope Anne Cole: Magical Matthew and Magical Mea

08 September 2013 by Lorna dEntremont in Blog, Parenting all kids, Special needs children 3624 10 0

On our Special Needs Book Review site we have written about two wonderful children’s books written by Penelope Anne Cole, Magical Matthew and the second one, Magical Mea. A main character in this Magical Series of books is Lily, a young girl who is in a wheel chair. Lily is portrayed as “one of the gang” who does all what the other kids do, who is quick to find solutions and offer suggestions. She is a great role model for other children with disabilities…or different abilities!

Penelope Anne Coles’s children’s books come to life with the beautiful illustrations by Kevin Collier. They appeal to kids aged 4 to 8. The large, colorful illustrations and exciting story lines will keep the interest of many children in a classroom, one child on a parent’s lap, or of a beginner reader using the drawings to help with comprehension.

Please Note: We are updating this post, Nov. 2015, to include links to our posts on Penelope Anne Cole’s most recent books in the Magical Series.

Magical Matthew by Penelope Anne Cole

Magical Matthew: Matthew can fix things magically. Matthew secretly uses his magical powers to fix things for his family and friends. Later, he expands his magical good deeds by fixing things in his neighborhood. Matthew’s best friend and neighbor, Lily, who is in a wheelchair, suspects something is special about him. Matthew must decide whether he can trust her with the truth. His Grandmother becomes his confidant as he makes the decision to trust Lily. Later, Matthew loses his magical powers and needs to accept how he has changed to continue to grow and learn.

Magical Mea, Second Children’s Book in the Magical Series

Magical Mea: Like her big brother, Matthew, Mea has the unique ability to fix things simply by staring at them; however, Mea does not use her powers wisely. Mea is a trickster and enjoys hiding things and playing pranks on others. First, things go missing in their home but then Mea ventures to play her pranks in her neighborhood and then even boards a bus that takes her much too far from home with all the dangers that this entails. In the end Mea makes a good choice and the story ends well.

In the second book, readers will once again enjoy Lily in her wheelchair with her quick solutions and suggestions and Grandma Nonie. Magical Mea touches on sibling rivalry, the dangers of venturing alone, and in the end when Mea decides to use her magical powers to do good; hopefully, young readers will learn playing tricks on others is not always the right thing to do and being good trumps being bad. The satisfaction from a good deed is better than the attention brought on by a bad deed.

About Penelope Anne Cole

Penepole Anne Cole writes, “After I retired early from my Federal career in Training and Human Resource Management, I got my Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. Then I taught at every grade level, Kindergarten through high school. Now I tutor middle school students. Although I’ve written for years, I hadn’t thought of writing children’s stories until I got the inspiration from my neighbor’s son Matthew’s double digit birthday milestone. Such a magical event – no longer a single digit child! I thought what if he really had magic, what would he do, as Magical Matthew?
The idea for Magical Mea came when I thought what if Matthew’s little sister got her magic but didn’t want to be the good girl? What if she wanted to be different and play tricks on people? The next two stories in my “Magical” series are: Magical Mea Goes to School, contracted this month, where Mea has to learn to use her magic secretly, and Magical M and M, about two new family members, with Kevin Collier, my illustrator. He’s done a great job capturing the fun and angst of the characters in the magical stories.”

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