The Magic Paintbrush - Paperback

by Kat Zhang (Author), Eric Darnell (Author), Phoebe Zhong (Illustrator)

In this highly illustrated series launch, Amy, an Asian American girl picks up an ancient paintbrush and unwittingly unleashes the power to make her art real and sometimes dangerous. Perfect for fantasy readers who love Dragons in a Bag and the Dragon Pearl series.

"Gorgeous and gripping, The Magic Paintbrush swoops readers off on rip-roaring fantasy adventure that unfurls like a magnificent scroll...Brimming with imagination and heart..." Soman Chainani, author of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL series

Amy has always loved art, but lately her drawings have been less than impressive. There's no passion, no personality, no...magic. Until Amy visits her Lao Lao, her grandmother, and finds an ancient paintbrush that brings anything Amy creates to life!

Now her creation Luna has taken over her bedroom and is running through the streets of Flushing, Queens. What awaits: an international adventure filled with an ancient Chinese legend, a greedy adversary and ghastly beasts!

Award-winning author Kat Zhang teams up with Eric Darnell, the writer and director of the Madagascar series and the Chief Creative Officer of Baobab Studios, to create a captivating highly-illustrated middle grade series debut about finding your own path, the power of imagination, and the strength of family.

Author Biography

Kat Zhang loves traveling to places both real and fictional--the former have better souvenirs, but the latter allow for dragons, so it's a tough pick! She wrote the young-adult series The Hybrid Chronicles, the middle-grade novels The Emperor's Riddle and The Memory of Forgotten Things, and the Amy Wu picture book series. Like Amy, Kat once thought being serious about art meant losing her "childish" fun but soon came to realize that fun was the most important part of all.

Eric Darnell is Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder of Baobab Studios, the world's leading independent interactive animation studio. Under Eric's leadership, Baobab Studios has won 10 Emmys, 2 Annie's, and first ever SIGGRAPH Immersive Best in Show Award. Baobab's latest VR piece, Baba Yaga, made its world premiere at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.

Eric's career spans 25 years, and he is the second highest box office grossing writer and director of animated feature films, and was the director and screenwriter on all four films in the Madagascar franchise and an executive producer on The Penguins of Madagascar. Previously, Eric directed DreamWorks Animation's very first animated feature film, Antz.

Phoebe Zhong is a character designer, visual developmental artist, and illustrator based in Beijing