63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Books to reread all your life!, October 29, 2000
This review is from: Tales of Magic Boxed Set (Edward Eager Tales of Magic) (Paperback)
If the popularity of Harry Potter is bringing old fantasy titles to life, I say bravo, especially if it means new readers are about to discover the books of Edward Eager. I read them first when I was eight or nine and now, over thirty years later, I still revisit the marvelous adventures of these two sets of children. Jane, Mark, Catherine and Martha let us in on the world of the 1920's as they embark on one hilarious magical adventure after another. Time Garden and Knight's Castle deal with another set of children during 1940's wartime. One of the most wonderful things about this series is discovering the connection between the two sets of kids, which all culminates on a South Seas Island in two different books. Like the Potter series, Eager's books charm with their mixture of modern life and ancient magical powers. I can't recommend them highly enough, and I'm going to purchase the boxed set for my niece for Christmas so that I can read them with her!
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magic all around, April 6, 2001
This review is from: Tales of Magic Boxed Set (Edward Eager Tales of Magic) (Paperback)
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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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best, funniest, and most imaginative magic books ever, November 27, 2002
This review is from: Tales of Magic Boxed Set (Edward Eager Tales of Magic) (Paperback)
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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