Gabby and His Magic Balloon

Helen M. Dobie was a teacher-librarian living in Woodstock, Ontario.

Gabby and His Magic Balloon is the first in a series of four little books written in Dutch by Henri Arnoldus. They have been translated into English by James C. van Oosterom. The main character in all the books is Gabby, a little man who lives in the middle of a large forest. His house is a hollow tree. Tom-Bom, his only friend, is a cat whom Gabby had found wandering in the woods one day. Gabby is a magician but Tom-Bom is the only one who knows that he is. He learns his magic from three books, and he makes his spells with magic words and with powder that he grinds from magic pebbles. In the first book, Gabby makes a magic balloon from sail-cloth, patched with pieces from an old coat. On their first trip in the balloon, he and Tom-Bom find a little lost boy and return him to his mother.

In the next book of the series, Gabby Flies to the Moon, Gabby makes a trip in his magic balloon to find some special golden pebbles, which can only be found on the moon. These are the only pebbles that will grind up into the special powder that will cure the squirrels of a strange illness they all have.

The third book is Gabby and the Witch. In it Gabby and Tom-Bom make a magic cart, much to the cat’s delight (he gets tired of walking). On its trial run, the cart goes so fast that Gabby crashes into a tree, losing his box of magic powders which he wears on a gold chain around his neck. He also loses his key, which unlocks not only the little box of powder but also the cellar where all the magic pebbles are stored. Elvira, the witch who lives at the other side of the forest, finds the box. When Gabby and Tom-Bom go back to look for the box and the key at the crash site, they realize what has happened. Gabby solves that problem with a wily solution that makes everyone happy.

In Gabby and the Magic Flute, the last of the four, Gabby wins a race to San Porto, where the wizard Martini is dying. The prizes for the race are a book of magic and a magic flute that will change any animal into another animal and that can be used to cast spells on “bad” people. Since Gabby already has three magic books, he takes the magic flute and lets Marco, the magician who came in second in the race, have the book. “That’s Gabby for you,” says Tom-Bom. “He’s always nice to everybody.”

That describes Gabby perfectly. He’s a very pleasant, happy little man who enjoys fun and enjoys helping people. He is getting rather old and forgetful, but that does not bother him since Tom-Bom always reminds him of what he is supposed to be doing. Tom-Bom can talk when Gabby sprinkles him with the magic powder specially ground for the purpose. They are a delightful pair.

The books are written in chapters short enough that they would not be daunting to a struggling young reader. Each chapter comes to a satisfying stopping place without destroying the flow of the whole story. This is a great encouragement to the child who likes to finish something that he has started. Each book can be read independently because each begins with an introduction to Gabby and Tom-Bom, a description of where they live, and a short explanation of who they are. Only once is the sequence of events a little mixed up. They ride the magic cart in Book 2 but invent it in Book 3. But that is a very minor problem, especially for a magician.

The illustrations by Carol Voges are black-and-white line drawings. They add greatly to the fun and are well placed on the pages to help with the descriptions of what is happening. The covers are brightly coloured and very attractive.

Unfortunately, the copies sent for review have been poorly bound; the first one, in particular, was on the verge of falling apart after the first reading. The others seem sturdier, so perhaps the first is a poor sample.