Wizards: Stories of Magic, Mischief and Mayhem [Paperback]

Jennifer Schwamm Willis (Editor)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

Before the kids sit down at the computer or turn on the television, hand them Wizards, where they can spend the night next door to a man-eating troll, accompany a boy on his first day at wizard school, or take a ride on the North Wind. The Harry Potter series has created a hunger for great fantasy literature amongst children and their parents, many of whom have never read such masters of the medium as C. S. Lewis, T. H. White, Roald Dahl, or E. Nesbit. Now the editors of the Adrenaline series have moved into a new genre with the same attention to great stories, great characters, and great writing that has made Adrenaline the most successful series of its kind. In addition to the above writers, Wizards draws upon a rich load of forgotten classics (without which there would be no Harry Potter) by such authors as Jane Yolen, George MacDonald, Frances Hodgson Burnett, A. Philippa Pearce, Nicholas Stuart Gray, John Bellairs, and Edward Eager.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth, Balliett & Fitzgerald (September 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560253207
• ISBN-13: 978-1560253204
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,276,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good starters, October 8, 2001

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wizards: Stories of Magic, Mischief and Mayhem (Paperback)

I love wizards, be they the unusual, young ones or the old gray-bearded Gandalf/Merlin types. But I and many others Iove wizards. As the title suggests, this is a collection of some of the best wizard stories out there, by some of the best writers of fantasy ever, including but not limited to: Jane Yolen, Ursula Le Guin, T.H. White, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, and so on.

Much of this material is excerpted from other books, such as Le Guin's story ("Wizard of Earthsea"), George MacDonald's ("At the Back of the North Wind") and several others. While readers may have heard of some of the books ("Wizard of Earthsea," "Wizard's Hall," the Narnia Books) this is a good introduction to other works by older authors, like T.H. White's excerpt from "Once and Future King," Phillippa Pearce, George MacDonald (who died before Tolkien!), Beowulf (the one excerpt that may be beyond the average 9-12 reader); and a few of those who are simply obscure like Mark Helprin and Nikolai Gogol. (Not all the excerpts are from wizard-related books, tho)

On a non-reading level, this book is beautifully bound with a gorgeous cover, though a little pricey for a paperback, in my humble opinion. Nevertheless, if you are not acquainted with some or all of the authors inside and/or are looking for good wizard stories, look no further. It's a good way to kick off your fantasy reading.

3.0 out of 5 stars An Introduction to Fantasy with a Misleading Title, November 25, 2007

By 

Karen F. Blocher "fantasy writer and blogger" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wizards: Stories of Magic, Mischief and Mayhem (Paperback)

This is a misnamed "survey" compilation of short stories and book excerpts, most of them from the young adult fantasy genre, many of them with no mention of wizards whatsoever. A few excerpts don't even have any overt magic. However, this is not to say that there's nothing worth reading here. There is definitely some classic material here by Roald Dahl, T.H. White, E. Nesbit and many others, but generally only in bite-size chunks - enough to whet the appetite but not satisfy it. If you're looking to sample the work of many children's, fantasy, and children's fantasy authors before diving in on whole books by each, then this anthology serves as a good introduction, especially for complete novices to the genre. But if you're looking to read about wizards specifically, look elsewhere.