Magic Books
The Magic Skateboard, 2001
Bülent loves skateboarding, but his skateboard is old and clumsy. There is a competition in the spring, and he is nowhere near ready.
One day, as he walks unhappily through the park, he cries out, “I want a new skateboard! I want it to be fast… so fast that I can almost fly!”
What Bülent doesn’t know is that the oak tree above him is no ordinary tree. It has special powers. The wind begins to blow, the leaves rustle, and an acorn falls on his head.
Bülent picks it up and puts it in his pocket. Before long, he gets exactly what he wished for: a shiny new skateboard!
And it is no ordinary skateboard. It is faster than any other—and it can even fly! But its magic only works when Bülent has the acorn in his pocket. Without it, it is just an ordinary skateboard.
Bülent wins the competition, but he isn’t entirely happy. The thought that he may have won because of magic troubles him.
Then his sister tells him something surprising: she threw his acorn away and gave him another one. Could it be that Bülent won the competition without magic after all?
The Magic Hat, 2002
Burak is feeling miserable. He has 102 maths problems to do for homework, and they are due tomorrow. He doesn’t want to start them—or even think about them. If only he could somehow avoid them… But how? He wishes he could become invisible in class!
Burak says his wish aloud as he walks beneath the great oak tree in the park. An acorn falls on his head, and that night he finds a beautiful hat on his bed—a hat that makes its wearer invisible!
It is an exciting discovery, and the beginning of a thrilling, sometimes dangerous adventure. Burak can become invisible whenever he wants, but his clothes remain visible. Every time he uses the hat, he has to take them off—and that is bound to get him into trouble.
Burak also wants to impress a girl in his class, so he uses his invisibility to try to change her exam answers. His plan backfires when she objects to cheating.
His new power comes in handy, however, when a strange clown turns up at a friend’s birthday party…
The Magic Book, 2002
Oktay doesn’t like history—especially when there is an exam. Next week, he has a difficult history exam, just one day after his birthday. He worries that nobody will come to his party because they will all be studying.
If only there were a book that could teach him history through thrilling adventures, like the ones in the movies! He says his wish aloud as he walks beneath the great oak tree in the park. Once again, a magical acorn falls on someone’s head…
The next morning, many of Oktay’s friends come to his birthday party despite the exam, thanks to the efforts of his friend Nilüfer. Among his presents is a strange history book with a shiny cover. Oktay has no idea where it came from, so he and Nilüfer decide to take a closer look after the party.
They soon discover that whenever they turn a page, the book takes them to a different time. First, they visit the age of the dinosaurs, where a hungry T. rex chases them. Then they travel into the future and find themselves aboard a spaceship with talking computers.
Finally, they travel back thirty years and meet Nilüfer’s parents as children. But there they accidentally leave the book at her grandparents’ home—and lose their only way of returning to their own time. Somehow, they must get it back from her grandfather, who has no idea who they really are…
The Magic Umbrella, 2003
Nilay can’t wait to go to school and see Ömer, her new classmate, whom she likes very much. But heavy snowfall has closed the schools. If only she could control the weather!
She says her wish aloud as she walks beneath the great oak tree in the park. And once again, a magical acorn falls on someone’s head…
The next morning, Nilay finds a colourful umbrella at her doorstep. When she opens it, it goes POP! The snow stops, and the sun comes out. She opens it again, and this time it rains. Once more—and it turns into a hot summer’s day!
Nilay and her father take the opportunity to go for a walk in the woods. There, they see some suspicious figures using bulldozers to clear trees for a villa. The construction is illegal. Furious, Nilay opens her umbrella again and makes it rain, bringing the work to a halt for a while.
But she cannot make it rain forever without causing problems for the people in the city. Then, at Ömer’s birthday party, she discovers something even more upsetting: his father is responsible for the illegal construction.
Now Nilay must find a way to stop the construction for good without hurting Ömer, who doesn’t know that it is illegal.
The Magic Globe, 2004
Ozan loves his grandmother and wishes he could see her more often. The problem is that she lives in New Zealand!
“I wish it were easier to get there,” he says. “I wish I could be there in a second…”
He says his wish aloud as he walks beneath the great oak tree in the park. Once again, a magical acorn falls on someone’s head…
The next morning, Ozan finds a globe at home. With the acorn in his pocket, he touches New Zealand on the globe—and immediately finds himself there!
Ozan tries to find his way around with his limited English. Now he wishes he had paid more attention in class! He hopes he can at least find his grandmother, but when he climbs into the back of a small truck, he finds himself caught up in a thrilling adventure involving drug traffickers.
The Magic Glasses, 2007
Emre accidentally drops his mother’s ring into the washbasin. He tries to retrieve it, but it slips deep down the drain. Frustrated, he says, “Why can’t I see inside things? I wish I had that power…”
As he walks beneath the great oak tree in the park, the wind begins to blow and the leaves rustle. An acorn falls on his head. The tree, it seems, has special powers…
Then Emre finds a pair of glasses exactly like the ones he received after a visit to the eye doctor the day before.
Later, as he enters a shopping centre with his mother, he notices a man carrying a plastic mannequin. Looking carefully through his glasses, Emre sees strange wiring inside it. He tells his mother, who alerts security.
There is a bomb hidden inside the mannequin, and Emre becomes the hero of the day for helping to prevent an explosion.
After the incident, reporters interview him on television. But some people watching have plans of their own—plans that require Emre’s ability to see inside things.
Before long, Emre is kidnapped and taken to Angel Falls in Venezuela!
The Magic Earring, 2009
Elif can’t sleep well. Her family cannot afford a bigger home, so they all live in one room and share a bed.
“I wish I were small enough to fit anywhere,” she says.
As she walks beneath the great oak tree in the park, the wind begins to blow and the leaves rustle. A magical acorn falls on her head…
Later, Elif finds herself no bigger than a finger. But being so small brings unexpected problems, and life becomes more and more difficult.
The Magic Ball, 2009
Deniz isn’t very good at football. In fact, he can hardly even kick the ball properly.
“Why can’t I make the ball go exactly where I want it to?” he complains.
As he walks beneath the great oak tree in the park, the wind begins to blow and the leaves rustle. A magical acorn falls on his head…
Soon, Deniz’s friends are amazed at how well he can play, and they welcome him onto their football team.
But trouble begins when some people want to buy the house belonging to the woman who owns the field where the children play. Deniz’s remarkable skill with the ball—and the help of a monkey—may be just what they need to solve the problem…
The Magic Pencil, 2009
In the 1500s, after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec lands, the Spanish friar Zumárraga wanted the Aztecs to abandon their own culture and adopt Spanish customs and religion. He demanded the destruction of symbols of Indigenous cultures, including Aztec manuscripts. Those who resisted did their best to hide and protect them.
THE STORY
Caner hates homework. “Why do we have to write when everything is on the internet anyway?” he asks. “And if I have to write, why can’t my pencil write faster?”
As he walks beneath the great oak tree in the park, the wind begins to blow and the leaves rustle. A magical acorn falls on his head…
Later, Caner finds a pencil on his desk. With the acorn in his pocket, he starts his homework and discovers that he can write dozens of pages in a single second!
Caner and his friends decide to use this power to help the Aztecs copy their manuscripts. But first they must travel back in time with the magic book and reach the Aztec lands with the magic globe.
For this adventure, the heroes of The Magic Book and The Magic Globe come together.
The Magic Car, 2013
Berke receives a pedal car as a gift. It looks like an ordinary car, but he wishes aloud that it could move on its own…
As he walks beneath the great oak tree in the park, the wind begins to blow and the leaves rustle. A magical acorn falls on his head…
The car was made by a friend of Berke’s father, who is secretly working on a special battery that will allow car engines to run on water.
But a secret like that cannot stay hidden for long. Soon, Berke, his friend Gülay and the magic car find themselves involved in an adventure…
The Magic Box, 2015
THE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD by The Association of Children’s Books (Turkish IBBY), 2015
Every morning, Baran, a fourth-grade student, takes his pocket money from a shoebox that his parents keep under his bed. He wishes he had more money, especially when he needs to buy a birthday present for a beautiful girl in his class.
One day, he says his wish aloud as he walks beneath the magical oak tree. The next morning, he finds a great deal of money in the box. The money keeps appearing, until Baran wants to help a friend whose father needs a huge sum to save himself from a group of bandits…
Magic World Map, 2013
This book was commissioned by the Turkish Ministry of Culture to mark the 500th anniversary of Piri Reis’s famous world map.
THE STORY
Asım dreams of becoming a sailor. Almost every day, he goes down to the shore in Gelibolu to watch the ships passing by.
One day, he manages to enter a small ruined stone building in the garden, where he finds a strange map. As soon as he touches it, he and his friend Suna find themselves aboard a warship, five hundred years in the past…
There they spend time with Captain Piri, knowing nothing about who he is. He tells them about the map he is working on.
THE MAGIC MAP (Ages 8+)
Ufuk dreams of becoming a sailor and travelling the world. He is spending his summer holiday at his grandfather’s home in Gelibolu when he discovers a mysterious map beneath an old ruin in the garden. It opens the door to a journey very different from the one he imagined.
Ufuk and Suna find themselves centuries in the past, aboard a ship sailing across the Mediterranean. In this world of sailors, sea battles and maps, a new surprise awaits around every corner. But how will they return to their own time?
An exciting sea adventure that brings history and imagination together, filled with the desire to explore and an unexpected friendship.