Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reading copy.

I am not sure which aspect of the book I like better; the fascinating, detailed illustrations, or the concept of the book ( the magic key that books hold within them). While I found some parts of the narrative tough to follow, I also realized that it actually works well when we think about the theme of the story; and when we think about how thoughts jump from here to there sometimes. Also, the accompanying artwork adds so much to the storytelling that it helps the reader along, and you can enjoy it with and without the words.

It is a totally fantastical exploration of imagination; a tribute to libraries, books, and reading; a rollicking ride with twists and turns that turns out to be so very coolly fun! I love how those initial sepia colored illustrations shift to more colorful art as the girl discovers that “magic key!”

In Summary
This is a picture book that will awaken the story teller within, and one that shows how reading is the magic key to unlocking whole worlds!!

An absolutely stunning picture book accompanying an eccentric and quirky tale. I loved the rhythm of the story, it felt really satisfying to read aloud.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974


This book is for the imaginative people, those who love and get lost in books. It is also for the young and mature. The art was absolutely amazing and beautiful, in addition to the store. This book is a must have for every collection.

Thank you Netgalley for this book in exchange for a review. My Key is a lovely story that touches a lot on diversity and the power of imagination. The illustrations are beautiful and the storytelling is powerful. It engages the readers, young and old alike, and is a very resonating read. Highly recommend!

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

My Key is a beautifully but quite dark, illustrated children's book about a little girl who discovers a magic ball and key after waiting all day for her mother to take her to the library. She enters a magic world of books and reading adventures through the magical ball and key she finds.
I loved the xoncept of this book and the illustrations, but they didn't necessarily gel well together for me and I think many children will not get the understanding of this book unless its explained to them. However, do give it a read as your thoughts may be different to mine and I still enjoyed reading it.

I chose to read this book because of the beautiful illustrations that caught my eye in an instant, and the fact that it has books within a book. I find it hard to put into words why the illustrations captured my attention but they are descriptive and beautiful and expose children to a range of 'darker' colours as opposed to typical brighter colours used in many children's books.
I loved the characters use of imagination and the way the illustrator captured her face when she's reading the library is closed is perfect - I am sure many other young readers out here can relate - even better is that it was close for a Very Important Young Elephant Book Conference.
A beautiful book that will engage the imagination of little and big people alike.

Gorgeous pencil/ color pencil drawings. A lot of depth and intricacies in each spread. Great fantasy-worldless book reminiscent of Wiesner or Van Allsburg. It was nice to see a fantasy story featuring a non-white character and set in an urban landscape. This book is geared towards older readers, K-3, but I would recommend to younger readers who like to tell stories from the pictures.

A girl and her key and the discoveries she makes. Vivid illustrations that spark the imagination.

A special thank you to Clavis Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

I LOVED this picture book! Thank you for letting me read it. The graphics were stunning, so much that honestly this would even be great as a wordless book. I think this book would be better for older kids/students who enjoy picture books, as younger kids may get overwhelmed by the realism of the art style, or maybe not. I will definitely be ordering it for our middle grade picture book collection.

It took me a little while to figure out what the plot of the book was, but once I caught on, I found the story to be wonderful. The illustrations add to the story perfectly. The whole book is magical.

This is a beautiful book, though the plot was a little bit confusing. I think that should be fine for this kind of high-imagination style narrative, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC of this book.

The illustrations are stunning, but the story is one I am hard pressed to find accessible to children. As an adult it's confusing, and not one I can imagine my own daughter enjoying or understanding.

A fantastical adventure to get to the best place in the world! The story was a wonderful tribute to imagination, reading, and the impact of libraries on young children's lives. I love the character is a young BIPOC girl with curly hair. It felt like seeing my own childhood reflected back at me. The text itself is a bit confusing at times, with changing narrators. Gets a little chaotic but it's a fun ride that made me imagine all the adventurous books I've read. I would use it in a classroom or get it as a gift.

A fantastical story about a girl going on an impossible journey with absolutely beautiful illustrations. The perfect book to read aloud!

The art work is beautiul if a little dark. The story itself is confusing and choppy, I had to read it a couple of times to understand what was happening in the story. To read to a child may be hard, since I as an adult really don't understand what is happening in the story.

I think something may have gotten lost in translation.

The illustrations are the strongest part of this, although I had a tough time making them all out on my computer screen. (This is definitely not a good book to attempt reading on an e-reader or tablet!) The text started out confusing, and didn't get much better as time went on. The story starts like this:

*** I asked politely, "Please can we go to the movies, Timbuktu, a little kasbah in a big city? You know, one of those old Moroccan fortresses. Please?" ***

The story then goes into libraries and imagination, and I have no idea what any of that has to do with the movies or that grammatically strange sentence that appears to be talking to someone named Timbuktu.

I understand that this is about imagination, but I really don't like the narrative. The wording seems clunky and disjointed.

I don't think I'd recommend this one. The pictures are okay, but there are better books out there that celebrate libraries and imagination without devolving into such weirdness.

Incredible illustrations and storyline! A great bedtime story for kids! They’ll have magical dreams after listening to it. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

This didn’t quite work out the way I thought it would.

A little girl is having a dull day as she wants to visit the library but her mamma just said “later”. While sitting on the sidewalk complaining about the unfairness of it all to her cat, she suddenly discovers two apparently ordinary objects appear near her: a ball and a key. But these objects are magical and turn her boring day in a day of excitement and adventure by getting her past the locked library door.

Sounds good? Yeah, it felt appealing to me too. But this is a case where the theme is good, the implementation isn’t. The idea is that libraries can take you on a wonderful adventure right through the book in your hands. This is a lovely thought and absolutely true. But the way it is written turns this beautiful opinion into a concept so abstract that only the most precocious of children will understand the underlying points of the story. (Heck, even I had to read it twice and still ended up with only a hazy idea of the proceedings.)

The tale doesn’t flow smoothly but seems to jump randomly from scene to scene. Rather than creating excitement at the adventures, the book creates confusion and bewilderment at what’s happening. There’s no revelation about what or how the ball and the key work, no detail about the girl

This book is the Gold Medal Winner of the 2020 Key Colors Illustrators Competition. As such, I had assumed that at least the illustrations would make me happy. Sadly, they didn’t. The sketches are quite dark and blurry and the colours are more in earthy palettes than vibrant, fantastical tones. The illustrations didn’t look magical to me but dull and boring. The girl looks different in almost every panel.

Overall, this was a disappointment as I found both the story and the graphics quite weird. I don’t know whom to recommend this to, so please read other reviews and make up your mind about the appeal of this book. It just wasn’t the right fit for me.

My thanks to Clavis Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of “My Key”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

My Key is a book that highlights the beauty of traveling anywhere via books, something I think most of us can appreciate. I think the prose is a little difficult to understand, especially for younger children, and 5 (the age stated on the back of the book) may be a bit too young to understand this incredibly metaphoric story. The illustrations, though, are supremely gorgeous, and I think many children will appreciate seeing a girl who looks like them in the pages of a book. My favorite pages were the ones with the elephant band.

Thanks to Netgalley and Clavis for a free digital copy.

I never connected to this story. It is very abstract and lacks a cohesive and engaging voice. I kept waiting to "get it" and finished it disappointed that I never did.