Book-a-day until I publish July 15.
Magic by the Lake is the sequel to Half Magic. Both are part of Edward Eager’s Books of Magic series.
I adored these books when I was young, and they are on the list of books I revisit every so often. Magic by the Lake is perfect for a summer read or re-read.
At the end of Half Magic, Jane, Katherine, Mark, and Martha wonder if they will ever have another magical adventure. In that book, it says it was a long time before they knew the answer.
But Magic by the Lake says this.
”…the book says it was a long time before they knew the answer. And here it was only three weeks later, and already a Katherine was ready for more. But if you think three weeks isn’t a long time four four children to be without magic, I can only say that it seemed a long time to them.”
I love how Edward Eager (or the narrator, take your pick) speaks directly to the reader. I love the combination of every day sameness and magic in the stories, I love how Eager acknowledges his debt to the great E. Nesbit in each book and points readers back to her stories.
In The Lost Princess of Story, I mentioned over 100 books, many books of magic. The Eager series is on the long list in the back of the book. I hope that readers will be inspired to visit, or revisit, the worlds in those books.
Magic by the Lake is perfect for summers. It takes place by the lake, in a summer rental cottage. From the illustrations, it is the 1920s. N.M. Bodecker’s delightful black and white line drawings help establish the time and feel of the story. I particularly liked the drawings of Jane and Katherine as flappers when a wish makes them grow up too quickly.
The magical turtle who both helps and thwarts the children in their use of the magic in the lake is cranky and funny and very reminiscent of the Psammead in E. Nesbit’s Five Children and It.
This book also takes me back to summer. Summer when I was a kid, and days were long and open and empty enough to be filled. One of my favorite summer memories is library day. Library day was the best day of the week.
Oh, the decisions. What had to go back, what was I done with, what did I want to hang on to? And, at the library, which books would come home with me?
The joy of carrying out a tall stack of books, so tall I could barely see around them, and dipping into each one in turn. Reading a few pages of each one, trying to decide which one would be the first. Which one would I dive into today?
The Edward Eager books were often in those stacks, until my parents finally bought me my own set.
Give them a try. I think you will like them.
Your Fairy Bookmother,
Suzanne