Sonderbooks Book Review of

Muck and Magic

by Michael Morpugo

illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill

Muck and Magic

by Michael Morpugo
illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill

Review posted March 9, 2026.
Candlewick Press, 2020. First published in the United Kingdom in 2019. 60 pages.
Review written October 23, 2021, from a library book

This sweet little book amounts to an illustrated short story. It’s about a girl named Bonny who dreamed of being an Olympic cyclist. But one day she fell in front of some horses.

That chance encounter pulled at her, and she found herself coming around them again and again. Eventually, through the elderly lady who owns the horses, Bonny discovers a deep love for horses, and for sculpting.

After Bonny takes a job mucking out the stalls, here’s what the owner tells her:

“Where there’s muck there’s money, that’s what they say,” she said with a laugh. “Not true, I’m afraid, Bonny. Where there’s muck, there’s magic. Now that is true.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by that. “Horse muck,” she went on, by way of explanation. “Best magic in the world for vegetables. I’ve got leeks in my garden longer than, longer than . . .” She looked around her. “Twice as long as your bicycle pump over there. All the soil asks is that we feed it with that stuff, and it’ll do whatever we want it to. It’s like anything, Bonny – you have to put more in than you take out.”