Hello, friends. ✨ Today I’m excited to be part of the blog tour for The Magic Paintbrush by Kat Zhang! Special thanks to the TBR & Beyond Tours team for organising the tour and including me in it.

Thanks to Crown Books for Young Readers for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the fantastic bloggers on tour!

TL;DR: The Magic Paintbrush is an action-packed, adventure-filled, Chinese mythology-inspired middle-grade fantasy with wonderful illustrations to accompany a fun and creative story! Amy was a relatable main character who was easy to root for and I loved her relationship with her Lao Lao and Luna—who is unquestionably my favourite character in this book. The story doesn’t dive too deep into character development and neither does it go too hard with its themes, but I think that is also what would make this a great pick for young readers who simply want an enjoyable and entertaining fantasy story. Overall, while this wasn’t my favourite as an adult reader of MG, it was still a terrific read that I would recommend to the young readers in my life.

The story is told from two POVs: our MC, Amy and the villain of our story, Chen. Amy is a young girl who aspires to be a great artist whose work is taken seriously. In her quest to achieve this, she feels the need to leave behind her old art because she deems it too childish and unserious, but as a result, she struggles with creating art that feels authentic to her. I feel like the tumultuous emotions Amy experience is something young readers will be able to relate to, especially if they read this around the same age as her because at that age, they experience so many changes in their lives. If I remember correctly, everything experienced in the early teen years is a pretty big deal whether or not that’s truly the case. 😂 Still, I loved how she came back to loving her art through this wild journey and it certainly helped that she had Lao Lao and Luna by her side.

I loved that Lao Lao was a deceptively frail-looking grandma but was an absolute warrior when it came down to it. At one point, she’s likened to an exotic house plant with teeth and I have to say, that’s spot on, lol. As an artist and enthusiast, there is much to bond over with Amy and it was sweet to see how their relationship grew. However, my favourite character was Luna. I loved his enthusiasm with everything and I couldn’t help but smile every time he would appear on the page. His positivity was also infectious! There is a humorous tone woven into the story but I found it especially obvious when Luna was involved and it made for some great chuckle-out-loud moments.

I’d never heard of the magic paintbrush story before, so I thought this book’s concept was quite cool! I mean, who wouldn’t want to have a paintbrush that can bring your creations to life—whether it be fantastical creatures, wondrous inventions, far-flung fantasy settings, or delicious foods? The younger me would’ve been thrilled at the idea of owning something so magical! I love how Zhang was able to give the paintbrush character through the story and it added more meaning to the belief behind the magic. This message was woven in smoothly with the fears and doubts that Amy was facing as a young artist. In the most literal sense, to find the magic in art again, she had to believe in her talent without overthinking/worrying about creating something perfect because nothing ever is.

The other POV is Chen, the villain of the story. He’s a spoiled rotten rich young man who parties too hard, has no concept of responsibility or respect, has zero morals, and is basically kind of pathetic. He’s a narcissist and driven purely by greed and I think what made him scary was that he’s the kind of person that would go to any length to get what he wants simply because he wants it. That kind of evil drive is terrifying and I was so worried thinking about what he’d do next. I was honestly a bit disappointed that he was so one-dimensional but if the goal was to make it easy for young readers to understand why he’s so unlikeable and how you shouldn’t grow up to be like him, the author did a good and straightforward job of making that statement.

I’m not sure if this will be a series but with the way the story ends, I have a feeling it will be! Overall, I’m glad this was put on my radar and I honestly wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to parents/teachers/anyone who wants a recommendation for a diverse, well-written and illustrated story for their young readers.

Have you read The Magic Paintbrush or is it on your TBR?

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