On a blustery and wet May day in Chicago, Dessi and Ky get transported to a tropical island where wicked pirates have turned the islanders into birds.

Now it’s up to them to work together, defeat the pirates, locate a treasure, and find their way home again—with a little help from a magical crayon.

Book 1 of the Dessi and Ky Adventures series.

Harold and the Purple Crayon meets Dora the Explorer in Candice Pedraza Yamnitz’s Dessi and Ky Go Poof, the first book in a new fantasy series for young children. Dessi and Ky accidentally travel to a magical island where a parrot needs their help to regain his human form. The book shows common conflicts between siblings and how to work through them. Children learn to apply parental advice in this imaginative story whose simple prose keeps young readers engaged.

Best for: Early readers who love portal fantasies about family relationships.

Discern: Sibling squabbles that are resolved, magic used by pirates to transform people into animals.