A long time ago, back in the hazy lockdown days of 2021, I had an idea for a picture book. I was thinking about the childhood days I’d spent making mud pies and dirt cakes, and how funny it would be to do a self-serious recipe book explaining how to make all of the (completely inedible) treats I’d made in our kindergarten kitchen, or in the backyard at home with my little sister. But, as is always the way with a great new idea, I decided to Google the concept, to make sure that no-one else had written it first.
And they had. Mud Pies and Other Recipes is a charming little book written by Marjorie Winslow, first published 30 years before I was even born. Even today, it’s still really funny and well-written. So Marjorie had beaten me to the punch. The idea was kaput.
Except, I kept thinking about it. When I remembered my own childhood again, I realised I hadn’t actually made that many mud pies. The main thing I liked making was potions — magic potions. And even though the picture book I wanted to write wasn’t a fantasy… wouldn’t it be interesting if I could make a little bit of that childhood magic actually feel real?
A Recipe for Magic Potion is that idea come to fruition, and I’m proud to say that it’s my brand new (and debut) picture book. When I pitched it to my publisher, I described it as “the least ironic thing I’ve ever written,” and I think that holds true — all of the books I’ve written so far are special to me in their own way, but this is the only one where the text makes my chest flutter a little bit every time I read it.
The really strange thing about the book is that it kind of wrote itself. At some point in 2021 I created a Word document for the project, and then months later I opened up that doc again, ready to get to work — only to discover that I’d already written 90% of the text on some other night. Being an author is always a strange job (especially in those dark pandemic years where I did all my writing in the middle of the night) but discovering an almost-complete manuscript that I had no memory of writing was certainly one the strangest moments I’ve had so far.
Wonderfully, the project was ultimately illustrated by Natasja Horne, who is an absolute master of mosses and mushrooms and murky green forests. Much like my work with Chris Kennett, I was astonished that the “rough” page designs Natasja was sending in were not in fact the final illustrations — and then was still amazed when the finals were filled with more luscious colours and hidden insects than I ever could have imagined. There’s a scene in the book where the children are surrounded by flowers (see the third pic in Natasja’s post above) that is just so beautiful, it makes me want to head out on a new adventure every time I see it. Natasja well and truly knocked this project out of (or into) the (overgrown) park.
Which is all to say: A Recipe for Magic Potion was released on April 3 in Australia, which means you can get your hands on a copy right this minute. Buy it for the children in your life who need a reminder that screen time isn’t everything, or the kids who love adventures so much that they’d like one before bed as well. And, be sure to savour that little dose of actual real magic at the end — I hope it hits home for you like it still does for me.
That’s all for now. Happy brewing!
JACK HENSELEIT 