Description
Magic in a Bottle: A Storybook Adventure, available as a download and physical book, is about a boy who finds a mysterious scribble under his desk. He embarks on an adventure with his newfound friend to uncover the answer.
His journey is filled with twists as he realised that the ‘treasure’ he found is much more than finding money or toys.
Based on the story of Mr Bottle, it is a story about believing in yourself and how we can empower everyone to do amazing things.
“I cannot put it down.” – Asher Wee, NYPS
A great read to motivate children and tell them that nothing is impossible.” – May Lau, mother of 3.
Why Read Magic in a Bottle: The Storybook Adventure
- Inspire children to believe in themselves and magic. Nothing is impossible!
- Read about how the character overcomes his bullies using strengths from within.
- There are “easter eggs” and secrets found in the story. Are you able to link these to real-life incidents of Mr Bottle?
- Learn how to make Mr Bottle walk through a wall.
Read the 1st chapter of the story here:
The Secret Message
“Ringggg…” Was this some sort of fire alarm? I had never heard this before when I was in kindergarten. This sound triggered images of children costumed in army clothes frozen in a roll call exercise.
It was my first day at school. Dad had said primary school would be fun, but I was not so sure. Unlike kindergarten, I was not allowed to wear my favourite T-shirt to school. Everyone had to wear a uniform. Parents were not allowed into the school grounds but had to drop the children off at the gate. Every face was new. I wondered why we could not stay in kindergarten forever.
The cupboards of toys like those in kindergarten were missing from the classroom. The colourful pictures on the walls were replaced with a whiteboard. Unlike kindergarten, when our days would be started off with warm meals lovingly prepared by our teachers, this primary school did not serve breakfast. Not quite the ‘fun’ I had been imagining.
I sat myself down in the last row of the classroom, in the corner. It was my ideal spot, for I was quite tall and was trying to avoid attention as best as I could. The moment I stepped into this school, I decided that I would play an “observer” role today. I could see that a lot of my classmates were talking amongst one another. I did not want to. I did not need to.
I slumped down on my chair. Teacher will never call on me, I reassured myself, feeling sure that lying low literally was the way to survive this first day of school.
At the corner of the table where I was seated, I noticed some faint doodles on it. It had been vandalised. Words were scribbled with a marker: Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can do the impossible.
This statement had a vaguely familiar ring to it. I was certain I had seen this before in a library book that my father read to me.
Just then, an adult stepped into the classroom and introduced herself.
“Hello 1A. I am Mrs. Tan, your form teacher for this year.” Her eyes seemed to make contact with everyone in the class. Her visual scan was coupled with a knowing smile. Could she have known me before this?
“Let’s get to know everyone. I want each of you to say your name and your hobby. Let me start first.” She pulled out a photo album from her bag. Opening it, she showed us a picture of herself when she was a baby. Everyone laughed when they saw that picture. I could never imagine the chubby baby in the photo to be the grown-up version of Mrs. Tan. She was certainly way trimmer now.
She then showed us another photograph of a pretty girl in our school uniform.
“I studied at this school too and this was me in my school uniform when I was in Primary 5. This boy is my younger brother.” She pointed to a boy with short, spikey hair looking pencil-thin just like her but slightly shorter.
She ended her introduction by telling us she liked travelling and had been to 12 countries. By then, everyone was excited to share their own stories with Mrs. Tan.
“We will go by index number,” she instructed firmly.
There were 30 pupils in my class, and I knew my index number was 29. I heaved a sigh of relief. At least I had some time to think about what to say and ‘warm-up’.
When my turn finally came, I raised my hand just a little above my head and let out a feeble reply, “I am Andr…. and I like mag…”.
“Mag… what?” she probed gently.
“Mag-gic…”
“Magic?” Said Mrs. Tan, opening her eyes as wide as an owl. “Maybe you can perform for us next time!”
I looked back down, relieved to be able to resume my imaginary shield from attention.
Mrs. Tan started the lesson with Math and tested the class with simple questions like 1+1 and 2+2. Many in the class raised their hands with enthusiasm. Many students were eager to show her how smart they were. Not me. I knew most of the answers, but I did not feel a need to tell everyone that. I listened intently until the bell rang.
“It’s recess time now,” announced Mrs. Tan. “You can go for your snack break at the canteen. After your break, please line up and meet in the hall at 11am.”
Just before Mrs. Tan let the class off, she reminded everyone to leave their art packs under the table so that we would not need to carry a heavy bag to and from school. As I placed it there, I noticed a scribble on the underside of my table. Written in liquid paper were the words: AN ADVENTURE AWAITS. On closer look, the words seemed to be a riddle or puzzle:
An adventure awaits if you believe,
Find out where Joseph used to live.
Look for the dragon with scales made of porcelain containers
and which breathes not fire, but water.
Look around the part which has glue,
it will give you the next clue.
I loved adventures, but only those in storybooks. The real ones were just too scary. I always admired how superheroes like Spiderman and Indiana Jones were so brave to conquer the bad guys in their quests. I could not imagine how Tintin never failed to escape from villains and survived those close shaves with death so many times!
(Download the book to continue reading!)
About Mr Bottle, the magician
Mr Bottle is a magician specialising in children magic shows from Singapore. He also does a motivational talk with his show Magic in a Bottle show for schools.
It was his dream to become a full-time magician since he was 5 years old. He has since performed his magic in USA, China, Thailand and even DPRK. (This was on his bucket list.)
He also teaches magic to empower children. During COVID-19, he created Singapore’s first and only magical walking tour with some of the riddles found in this story. He hopes he can reach out to more children using this book, telling them that nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself.
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