The teeny, weeny blue genie enjoys a peaceful life on the Old Macdonald farm, happily located in an unused teapot at the bottom of a dresser until the farmer rubs the pot. Mr Macdonald enjoys a series of granted wishes: a shiny tractor, a wife and even a baby. However, the genie soon discovers that after each request, the farm becomes noisier: quack, baa, moo, toot, thump. The characters enjoy the superpower whizzing around, apart from the genie who dreams about returning to his old spot, craving tranquillity. The teeny weeny is back to discover “the surprise of his life” – another genie, of course! How are the two genies going to solve the wishing game?
Julia Donaldson takes on the idea of the Middle-Eastern folk tale of Aladdin. She grants the blue genie magical power, firmly grounded in the British tradition that a genie lives in a teapot and eventually flies with it. Combine with some modern twist of superhero costumes in similar dress codes as Spiderman and a genie who replace the traditional magical words of hocus pocus, abracadabra, and open sesame with “ABC and XYZ, Cauliflower cheese and chocolate spread”, it makes the reader experience old and modern. The illustrations follow the plot, feeling like reading a few stories simultaneously.
Old characters and ideas blossom in a new story, making you have a ‘wish’.
The Stats:
- Title: The Teeny Weeny Genie
- Author and Illustrator: Julia Donaldson & Anna Currey
- ISBN: 978-1-5098-4360-2
- Publication Date: 2020
- Page Count: 32
- Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books
- Recommended age: 3-6
- Categories/Topic: Genie, Farm
Further Information:
If you loved The Teeny Weeny Genie, check out more information about its author and illustrator:
- Visit Julia Donaldson’s website:
- The Teeny Weeny Genie, read by the author and Anna Currey, who illustrated the book, shows you how to draw one of the characters.
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