I wish…No, wishes don’t always turn out as expected in Edward Eager’s juvenile book Half Magic. The four children and even an understanding adult have to bumble their way through wishes before they can get the talisman to respond correctly.
In the 1920s, there was a family with four children, Jane, Mark, Katherine and Martha. Their father had died, and their mother wrote for a Toledo newspaper. It happened one summer. “There would be months of beautifully long, empty days, and each other to play with, and the books from the library.” After E. Nesbit’s The Enchanted Castle came in at the library, and they had finished it by the next day, they bemoaned the fact that magic didn’t happen in real life. And, then it did.
Jane found what looked like a nickel, but turned out to be a magic talisman. But, they had to learn to use it properly because it granted wishes, but only by half. So, they had to learn to double their wishes, by distance and time and actions. They make a mess of a tournament in Camelot, until Merlin helps them out. Martha, the youngest, causes a panic when she’s only half there, scaring the town’s residents. She corrects her mistakes by telling a bookstore owner, Mr. Smith, what happens with the magic. He understands because he believes six impossible things before breakfast every day.
Edward Eager’s first Tales of Magic book, Half Magic, is delightful. Alice Hoffman, who wrote the introduction to the version I read, said this book inspired her own books, and it’s her favorite book for children. She said, “Often the best place to discover magic is in a book, on a summer day, on the walk home from the library.” “So mote it be.”
I wish I had discovered this book at twice five in my public library. It has all the magic I craved when I was ten.
Personal note – One of my favorite memories of my childhood was the week my parents babysat for a family of three boys and we all moved into their house for the week. It was down the street from the public library, and I walked there every day, returning with a stack of books, and spent the rest of the day in the hammock on the screened in porch, reading. I agree with Alice Hoffman about the magic in books, and magic in the library.
Half Magic by Edward Eager. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1954, 1999. 203p.
One book leads to another. After reading “The Bookstore Family” by Alice Hoffman, she led me to Half Magic. It was Violet’s favorite book in that story.
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
Wow, I am imaging the fun of your memory! I have always dreamed of living across the street from a library!
Oh, it was a wonderful week, Carol. Every bit of it. I was able to walk to the library every day, and I enjoyed reading in the hammock.
OMG!! Knight’s Castle, Eager’s companion book to Half Magic, was my favorite book as a kid! I still have my copy! It’s one of the reasons I became a writer. Hank Phillipi Ryan and bonded over our love of Edward Eager!
Then I need to read Knight’s Castle, Ellen, even if I’m not the right age. Thank you!
I love the visual of you as a child in a hammock! Precious days!
Wonderful days, Mary!
I loved Half Magic and have wondered if it holds up today. Am I correct that “The Bookstore Family” books are Kindle only? I would love to read them but am Amazon avoidant.
Half Magic does hold up, Catherine.
Unfortunately, you’re right. “The Bookstore Family” and the two short stories that precede it are Amazon shorts via Kindle.
I love how you came to read Half Magic Lesa. It was like finding a treasure within a treasure!
You’re right, Lindy! And, I’m looking forward to reading Knight’s Castle because of Ellen Byron’s comment.
Favorite memory: Discovering Eager’s Magic series. And I was in my sixties!
I’ve only read the first one, Jerry, but I appreciate that you love it now. I’m on hold for Knight’s Castle.
Hi Lesa. I wish I lived next door to you, because I own Half Magic (and loved it as a child), and also Knight’s Castle and a third Edward Eager called The Well-Wishers, and I’d be happy to lend you the two you haven’t read! Since my mother was a children’s librarian when I was a child, she ordered a lot of terrific children’s books for “her” library, and my sister and I were always the first children to take them out. Many of our favorites were eventually given to us as Christmas and birthday presents.
What a great wish, Kim! I wish you did, too, but we know what happens with wishes! I’ve shared favorite children’s books with my family members, including the youngest ones now. As the daughter of a children’s librarian, you’ll appreciate this. Years ago, my niece challenged me one year to see who could read the most books. She beat me by a book or two. Now, she’s married with a little one who isn’t a year old yet, but he has his library card. And, libraries here have a program called “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten”. He’s signed up for that, too. My shower gift for her before he was born was a whole box of books. They’re reading them to him!