PEANUT JONES AND THE ILLUSTRATED CITY

A young girl creates a door to a magical world made of illustrations.

Twelve-year-old Pernilla “Peanut” Jones is having a miserable year: Her beloved father (who drew something new for her Packed Lunch Post-it Note Collection daily) has disappeared, and her practical mum has transplanted her from the school she loves to St. Hubert’s School for the Seriously Scientific and Terminally Mathematic. When Peanut happens upon a mysterious pencil, she discovers that whatever she draws with it becomes real. With her new friend, Rockwell, and her genius younger sister, Little-Bit, she draws a door. The trio enters the Illustrated City of Chroma, where the nefarious mayor, Mr. White, is determined to eliminate all creativity using his machine, the Big X. Together the kids (and an adorable scribble of a dog named Doodle) join forces with the Resistance, battling dastardly droids to infiltrate a pernicious prison named the Spire in hopes of saving Chroma. Biddulph’s series opener is a heavily illustrated page-turner that leans on familiar genre tropes; fans of portal fantasies will find much to enjoy here. More experienced readers may find the twists predictable and the cliffhanger ending foreseeable. Biddulph imbues this smoothly written work with humorous elements and a STEAM-based slant, name-dropping famous artists, inventors, and scientists. Peanut and Little-Bit appear white, and Rockwell reads Black.

A quirky and accessible portal fantasy that covers well-trodden ground.