Possum Magic

Bibliography

Fox, Mem. 1983. POSSUM MAGIC. Ill. By Julie Vivas. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0152632247.

Plot Summary

Possum Magic is the engaging story of a young possum named Hush and his grandma Poss. Grandma Poss was able to do all sorts of magic. She could turn wombats blue and kookaburras pink. The magical Grandma Poss works her magic on Hush and turns her invisible. In the beginning of the story Hush is perfectly happy being invisible, but she ends up wanting to be able to see herself. This is where the adventure begins. Grandma Poss wants to turn Hush back to normal, but can’t remember the exact magic that she will need. She eventually remembers that it has something to do with people food. So Grandma Poss and Hush set out to find the people food that will turn Hush back to normal. They travel all over Australia looking for the magic foods.

Critical Analysis

This Australian based story incorporates many Australian components. All the animals in the story such as wombats, kookaburras and dingoes are native to Australia. The talking animals are adorably done in beautiful watercolors adding to the flow and magic of the story. The plot keeps us wondering and moving forward as we try to find out if Hush will ever be made visible again. The setting takes place in Australia. The characters go from city to city searching for the people foods that will turn Hush back to normal. They find in Darwin a Vegemite sandwich and suddenly Hush’s tail appears. As they eat new foods in the various Australian cities Hush slowly returns to normal. The story is written with text that has the possums speaking, yet it is also very lyrical with rhyming verses like this one;

“She looked into this book and she looked into that.
There was magic for thin and magic for fat,
magic for tall and magic for small,
but the magic she was looking for wasn’t there at all.”

This keeps the book flowing and entertaining and makes it a great story to be read aloud. The last page of the book shows a map of Australia and the trail of the journey that the possums took as they went from city to city. It also includes a glossary of Australian terms. All of these things put together make a wonderful children’s story that children from any country would enjoy.

Review Excerpts

From School Library JournalPreSchool-Grade 2 Grandma Poss uses bush magic to make Hush invisible, but when Hush wants to see herself again, Grandma can't remember which particular Australian food is needed to reverse the spell. Traveling around the continent in search of an antidote, Grandma and Hush sample Anzac biscuits, mornay, vegemite, and pavlova until the right delicacy is found. Although the characters, locales, and vocabulary are thoroughly Australian, Possum Magic has universal appeal. Fox chooses her words carefully, making readers believe that certain foods just might be magical. Vivas uses a variety of techniques, including splatter painting and washes to create full- and double-page watercolor illustrations which complement the text and will entrance readers. A perfect choice for storytimes, but also useful for curriculum enrichment, thanks to a simplified map and glossary. Jeanette Larson, Mesquite Public Library, Tex.

Horn Book Guide 3/1/1991
Fiction: PB by Abingdon. Mem Fox and Julie Vivas provide a delightful story about the trials of an invisible possum as they take readers on a romp all over Australia. They fuse text and illustrations together so masterfully that it seems like a sleight of hand. Presto change-o: one enchanting book. Horn Rating: Superior, well above average.

Connections

Research the animals in the story to see what the actual animals look like.
Read Mem Fox’s other Australian stories: Koala Lou
Hattie and the Fox
Hunwick’s Egg