Like many young boys, Kaytek is both mischievous and kind, playful and serious, creative and destructive - unintentionally, that is. Author Janusz Korczak was familiar with troubled youths, those children who some educators might classify as “emotionally disturbed” or as having some form of ADHD; after all, it was Korczak who, in 1912, founded Dom Sierot, an orphanage for those Jewish children in his native Warsaw nobody else would take in. Even before he founded his famous orphanage, Henryk Goldszmit (Korczak’s name by birth) recorded his observations of the children of the working poor who played outside his apartment in “Dzieci ulicy” (Children of the Street). And, as a young boy, the ever-contemplative Henryk imagined what life would be like if he possessed magical powers. Indeed, this question never left him in his adult years, and it formed the basis of many a discussion with the youngsters in his care.
Kaytek is just such a boy – a child with a powerful imagination, a child like so many other children, sometimes impulsive and all too often unaware of the consequences his actions will bring. Korczak, with his characteristic love and caring, introduces us to Kaytek as a boy who likes to make bets, both as a thrill seeker and as someone naughty but clever enough to use the bets to earn easy money through trickery. (At this point it might be worthwhile to compare Kaytek with the hero of an earlier book, “Big Business Billy.”) Kaytek teaches himself to read; perhaps, like young Henryk himself, his curiosity is never satisfied; rather, it keeps expanding, which leads him to wonder what it would be like to have magical powers. Kaytek’s wish was also the result of his being teased in school for his lack of athletic prowess and general clumsiness. He quickly realizes that his thoughts can make things magically happen, which leads to a great deal of unintentional mischief. (As a side note, anyone who has read “King Matt” will recognize the invisibility cap from that beloved classic work.) However, Kaytek also uses his magic to give his teacher a rose, as he can see he upset her.

By Daniel L. Berek on March 9, 2013 - Published on Amazon.com