Author Kat Zhang shared a presentation about her latest book, The Magic Paintbrush, with third- and fourth-grade students in Merion's auditorium on Monday, June 3, 2024. 

The Magic Paintbrush is a modern re-telling of a traditional Chinese fairytale, in which a child artist has a paintbrush that enables the characters painted with it to come alive.

In Zhang's version, the artist is a young girl who begrudgingly spends a vacation at her grandmother's house. There, she finds the paintbrush and its magical powers. But her adventures take a dangerous turn when her grandmother becomes the target of a villain who wants to take the paintbrush away.

Zhang explained that the book was the result of collaboration among herself; Eric Darnell who had the idea for the book; illustrator Phoebe Zhong; and an editor. She also explained that when she writes, she often fears she hasn't gotten things right in her story. 

Her practice is to write a set number of words -- 1667 in this book's case -- each day, without regard as to whether they're perfect or not. Once she gets to the end of the story, she goes back to the beginning and revises everything until she feels it's the best she can do. 

She told students that she was particularly excited by working on this book, because it's the first longer-form book she's written that includes illustrations. She has written numerous picture books for younger readers, including the "Amy Wu" series, as well as books for young adults and middle-year students. 

For photos from Zhang's visit to Merion, you can click through the slide show below. The Magic Paintbrush will be available at the school library and can be purchased at Children's Book World, which helped arrange the author visit.