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Summary: Magic all around
Review: A series of classic, semi-connected books by Edward Eager, the perfect appetite-filler for those waiting for the new Harry Potter/Redwell/any type of fantasy book. Funny, cute, sweet, well-developed, well-written, with strong lead characters and delightful sidelines characters. The magic is unusual, in that it crops up in places (such as a thyme garden) that you wouldn't expect."Half Magic" is the first of this line of books, in which a Nesbitlike cluster (Jane, Mark, Katharine and baby Martha) discover a little charm. It grants wishes - but here's the catch, you only get half of what you wished for. For instance, if you wish for a house to burn down, all that will burn down is a treehouse or toyhouse. A series of zany adventures follow, including a trek to medieval times and to the Sahara. The final double-wish is touching, to say the least. "Magic By The Lake" take a different journey, in which the kids travel to a lakeside house. Of course, the lake has magical properties that allow them to journey through time and space at their wishes. Of course, some of them work and some backfire in hilarious ways. "Knight's Castle" skips twenty years into the future, when the four kids are grown, and two have kids of their own. When Roger and his family have to travel to their cousins' house while his dad has surgery, he encounters a magic soldier figure who will grant his wishes -- by zapping him into the Ivanhoe setting, with all the toy splendor around it! "Time Garden" is the sequel to "Knight's Castle," in which Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack are shipped off to an old house for the time being. They encounter the froglike Natterjack, a creature who allows them to use the magic thyme in the thyme garden. If you word your wishes correctly, you will go where you wish to go... With delightful illustrations by N.M. Bodecker, these books are a must for fantasy readers. Eager's tales are tightly bound together, but consist of vignette adventures, ranging from one a day to one a week. A timeless delight.
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Summary: I met these books in 1966 and they still are the best !
Review: A very good children's librarian recommended these to me the summer that I was 9 years old - I remember being sad as I finished each one but later begging my Mom to buy me all of the books in the series so that I could enjoy them again and again. The children in the stories are witty, not easily fooled and have independent minds - so different from many other book children of the time. I think my favorite is the 7 year old spunky Martha in the first two. Of course we have all wanted to go on a Quest with knights and damsels in distress. I just introduced my husband to the series and he loved them as well - I say snap up this set as quickly as possible and enjoy the pure magic.
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Summary: Take the Deal -- But First...
Review: At the time i'm writing this review, Amazon is offering a package deal of this box set and the author's "Seven Day Magic" for a savings over the prices seperately. Friends, that is a *deal* -- these books are a classic semi-series, and "Seven Day Magic" is what might be called "meta-fantasy", in one sequence of which its protagonists (who live in a world where "Half Magic" is fiction)dip back into the "Half Magic" universe. These are among the great children's fantasies -- well- and wittily-written, with respect for the minds and sensibiklities of the audience, and some very pointed commentaries on the sorts of books all too many adults think that children *want* to read. I read "Half Magic" the year after it first came out, almost half-a-century ago (i was in third grade) and absolutely loved it then and still do. These are *almost* the best American Children's fantasy (most of Robin McKinley's books are more YA than children's), and can be appreciated by any age, as well. The only thing you might consider reading *before* these books, maybe would be the "Taran" books of Lloyd Alexander (q.v.) And after these, Alexander's "Westmark" books, as well.
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Summary: Run, don't walk, and Hit your "Buy With 1-Click Now!"
Review: Every word Edward Eager wrote was magical - I started with "Half Magic" when I was eight, and the enchantment drove me to read every book he ever wrote, AND every book he ever referred to in his books! He opened worlds to me, the brilliant classical magic stories of Edith Nesbit, "Ivanhoe," "Little Women" and many, many others. Edward Eager made me a reader, then a lit student, then a librarian, and more than 40 years after discovering "Half Magic," he is still my very favorite writer. If you have children and grandchildren who like to hear you read to them, you won't be sorry you invested in Edward Eager.
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Summary: Real magic!
Review: I loved these books! Among other things, the kids in them actually READ. They encounter magic with a healthy scepticism I can relate to, and embrace it with the enthusiasm I know I'd share if I had their experiences. I'm so glad all four are included together here--it's really important to read them all, since the *best* part is when you arrive at the same point from two different perspectives in two different books... YAY!!!
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Summary: These books are timeless!
Review: I read "Half Magic" and "Magic by the Lake" as a young girl and absolutely loved them then. Now, years later, I decided to order a set for my young nieces, knowing they will enjoy them as much as I did. Unable to resist, I opened a few of the books before sending them on to the girls. I was so happy to discover that my assessment all those years ago was right on: These books are extremely well-written, creative, fun and, of course, magical! I highly recommend this set.
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Summary: Some of my favorite books of all time!!!!!!
Review: I read "Half Magic" first when I was about 7 and I still love it! (I'm 13 now). I like "Magic By the Lake", and "Time Garden" best. I like how some of the books are about the parents and some about their kids. The best part is... but you'll have to read them for yourselves!
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Summary: Pure magic
Review: I read this book when I was ten. I forgot the title and the author, but I remembered the story. When my daughter was born, I hand to find it, so I scoured children's bookshops for a story about a magic coin. Eventually I put a message up on the internet if anyone knew about a story about a magic coin that gave half wishes. I got several replies in the first day and many more after that. All pointing to half magic. I bought all eager's books and now await the day, I can read them to my daughter. These are truely fine stories and deserve a new audience. If I still wanted to read this book after 30 years, you can imagine how it will grip a young mind.
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Summary: Half Magic
Review: Knight's Castle was the first Edward Eager book I read and after that I could not get enough of them. Thirty years later they still make me laugh out loud and marvel at how surprising they are. The element of surprise is the key, and what I've always felt Harry Potter lacked. Eager's kids are regular kids--just like the reader and her or his friends--who stumble across some thing or other that turns out to be magic. The children can control the magic thing, but first have to figure out exactly what it is, how to make it work for them, and what the catch is because there is always a catch. In the meantime all sorts of goofy stuff is going on all around them and they've got to corral the magic if they want it to do something special, which they always do. Most of the books feature an age-range of characters, and a good balance of girls and boys. Eager's kids are always readers(which is why such fabulous things happen to them!) and which is fun for children who are readers themselves. Any kid with a sense of humor and a yen for surprises will love these books.
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Summary: Magical Perfection
Review: Long before Harry Potter, there was a set of equally wonderful books about magic that had a profound impact on my childhood. I think I must have read these thoroughly imaginative and wonderful books hundreds of times each...snuggled under the covers with my purloined cookies and a flashlight. Beginning with "Half Magic," which takes place in the 20s, these books are timeless. They are stories about intelligent, thoughtful children who come across something magic (in "Half Magic," it's a nickel-like coin; in "The Thyme Garden," it's a magical toad) and go on to have incredibly fanciful adventures. The joy of the books is that the children react, not with wide-eyed wonder, but with a great deal of skepticism. They quickly find out that they must learn the rules of the magic to make it work properly, and that is no easy thing. Along the way, they need to adopt a form of teamwork and discipline--especially when fighting dragons ("Knight's Castle")! The children in these books, both those of the 1920s and those of "modern life" (probably the 50s, when the books were written) are highly literate. As a child, I loved the bon mots from "Little Women," "Ivanhoe," and "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table." Will today's computerized kids get the inferences? And if they don't, will they want to find out more about these classics? All I know is that even today I can vividly remember the scene where the kids, stuck inside a summer cabin on a hot, rainy day, make hot cocoa and pack winter provisions as they sit around a bucket of water waiting to be transported to the South Pole ("Magic by the Lake"). I still love these books, and am thrilled that they are still available. A must for bookish children; a must for parents who yearn for a simpler time.
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