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From Horn Book

July 1, 2008
Audrey is an imaginative twelve-year-old with a talent for writing. While exploring a cave near her home, she meets an old woman who gives her a magical bronze pen. When Audrey uses it, she finds that her tales literally come to life. This touching story about love, family, and friendship is full of humor and adventure.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From Publisher's Weekly

March 24, 2008
Set (barely noticeably) in 1973, this relatively straightforward fantasy showcases the beloved author's gift for characterization but not, sadly, her finest example of blending magic and realism. With a father confined to his bed with heart disease and an overworked mother, 12-year-old Audrey Abbott takes solace in writing. It's a testament to Snyder's (The Egypt Game
; The Treasures of Weatherby
) narrative skills that readers will be intrigued rather than doubtful when a large white duck appears, “almost as if had been expecting it,” and guides her to a cave, where she converses with a spooky presence manifested only by its voice. On a subsequent visit, Audrey receives a bronze pen, with instructions to “use it wisely and to good purpose.” The rest of the plot revolves around Audrey's gradual realization that the pen brings what it writes into being. The resolution leaves several loose ends (Just who or what is in the cave? Where does the bronze pen come from?), and the magic only occasionally feels fully integrated with the plight of Audrey's family. Ages 8-12.

From School Library Journal

March 1, 2008
Gr 4-6-Audrey's father has a heart ailment, forcing her mother to work full-time at a job she doesn't like in order to support the family. To escape from her worries, Audrey writes stories, and so when a mysterious woman in a cave gives her an antique-looking bronze pen ("Use it wisely and to good purpose"), she immediately sets to work. After writing a passage about a girl who can speak with animals, she finds that she can suddenly understand her dog, Beowulf, and her pesky cockatiel, Sputnik. After a few more similar experiences with the pen, Audrey realizes that it must be magical. Once she figures out some of its rules and limitations, she is able to use it to very good purpose indeed. Readers looking for a full-fledged fantasy along the lines of Edward Eager's "Half Magic" (Harcourt, 1997) will be disappointed; the magical events are tantalizing but few, and although some hints are dropped, the mystery of the old woman remains unsolved. Audrey is an appealing kid and her thoughts and actions are interesting and believable, but in the end readers may feel that this fantasy does not deliver on its magical promise."Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Booklist

February 15, 2008
The winner of three Newbery Honors and an ace at blending light fantasy with realism, Snyderknows just how to allow magical elements to swell gradually from whispers to shouts, and how to open her characters minds touncanny possibilities. Here, 12-year-old Audreys experimentation withan enchantedpen develops alongside equally compelling personal situations, including herfathersdebilitating illnessand a new friendship with quirky Lizzie Morales, a terrific, memorable character. The1970s setting, crucial to understandingwhy the fathers angina is characterized as a death sentence, may be too lightly emphasized to avoid confusing readers whose parents or grandparents live full lives with heart disease. Still, at a time whenchildren interested in fantasy often must tackle elaborate, lengthy novels written for a broad age range, this squarely middle-grade offering will find a gratefulaudienceespecially, perhaps, among aspiring young writers like Audrey, who will emergeeager to swap computer keyboards for bronze pens of their own.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)