Customer Reviews

Tales of Magic Boxed Set (Edward Eager Tales of Magic)

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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!

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.

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.

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.

With the popularity of Harry Potter, many parents are looking for other books with a fantasy theme to encourage their kids' love of reading - look no further these are they!

Magical things happen to ordinary children - but sometimes the magic doesn't quite work the way it was intended to. Written in the 50s, these books have aged surprisingly well. Right from the start, we know these children and recognise our peers, friends or children in their descriptions.

Having read these books myself as a child, I am now looking forward to sharing with friends' kids (and buying a set for my daughter, still too young for them yet but it gives me a chance to re-read them)

These wonderfully creative and unusual books will win children right from the start. Their episodic structure makes them wonderful "chapter books" for reading to younger kids (or less willing readers) while they are still terrific for older readers too.

And while I do love the new pictures by Quentin Blake, it's great to see the originals by NM Bodecker are still in place!

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.

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!!!

My brothers, ages seven and nine, have just discovered Edward Eager's marvelous books this summer. They have been tearing through everything they can find. Eager's novels have instant appeal; these are stories about normal kids who discover extraordinary magic in ordinary places. The magic always comes with sensible rules, and the dangerous parts in the stories are just scary enough for a bit of a thrill.

Eager has packed his books with allusions to other pieces of literature: the Arabian Nights, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and, of course, E. Nesbit. This is fun for adults, but also gives kids the initiative to broaden their on literary scope.

These are very refreshing little books: as charming as the omnipresent Harry Potter series (which my brothers also relish, of course), without being so self-serious. It should be noted that because these were written half a century ago, there is some racial stereotyping going on (cannibalistic islanders who go "ooga-booga eatum children!", a rather insensitive caricature of a fellow by the name of "Achmed the Arab"). It may be necessary to explain to children that this aspect of the book is disrespectful, etc.

This collection is a good place to start, although it does not include my personal favorite, Seven Day Magic, which I highly recommend you buy along with this set. You'll want to read them all!

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.

E. Nesbit was one of J.K. Rowling's favorite authors when she was growing up. We've enjoyed her books as well as the Harry Potter books and the Narnia books. Apparently Edward Eager is a fan of E. Nesbit as well -- he mentions it in Half Magic.

This series was written some time ago (and the copyright was recently renewed by, I assume, an heir of the author), back when "Technicolor" movies were brand new, and people still commonly travelled in Pullman cars (on trains). They take place in the US, unlike the books I mentioned above. I love the fact that this author mentions other books, real works of literature that have been anjoyed by his characters, it's a really nice touch.

We have read Half Magic and just started Knight's Castle. I don't know if they are all sequential, but we were glad we made the attempt to read them in order -- we got them from the library and the order wasn't readily apparent without checking the original publishing dates. We found a completely new set of children in the second book, but then discovered that their Mom was one of the children from the first book. If you read them out of order, no major plot points are probably given away (I can't say for sure since we're not even finished with the 2nd book yet), but it's more of a treat to read them in the right order and see the kids from the first story all grown up.

I highly recommend these books!