Magic by the Lake

oh, Edward Eager, you really seem like a swell guy a family man but not one of those mawkish mewling types who always seem to be about to burst into tears when they talk about their fam you get kids and you don t bring a lot of sentimentality to the table either you capture the cheerfulness the mood swings the sweetness a little bit of the sour as well you root your adventures in prosaic reality but you manage to make prosaic reality not bad, not bad at all, its own sort of adventure.written in [...]

The sequel to Half Magic just doesn t have the same kind of whimsical magic Adriana and I devoured Half Magic, which I loved as a kid, but this one we kept putting down Adriana loves to read series Oz, Little House, Ramona , but this one was better off as a single book I do like the references to other stories in it, which give me ideas about other things it might be fun to read with her, and I m looking forward to reading other Edward Eager books with her.

Exciting gave chase p 63 More silly than scary Not too many old sayings Just enough flapper era for fun Magic has rules, limits, misunderstandings Not quite literal like Amelia Bedelia review show But same, improved by illustrations I could wish for color, but not too much in text to go by Imitating mermaid hands crossed demurely over front p 15 , Jane was combing her longish ungolden hair p 30 is dark at 16 Not syrupy sweet, tempers do flare, accidents happen Drawings spike curiosity Title page [...]

Classic children s fantasy fiction Just excellent Such a nostalgic treat to revisit these great stories again with my own children now, after all these years Lovin every minute of it.

After reading Half Magic I was delighted to learn, as was my daughter, that Edward Eager wrote a sequel to it Unfortunately it was considerably less charming than the original I got the feeling that Eager felt pressured maybe by his publisher, maybe by himself into writing this book to capitalize on the success of the first one But he d already accomplished what he set out to do in Half Magic, so Magic by the Lake feels forced In the first story the children do not realize initially that they ha [...]

If you are a fan of fine children s literature, Edward Eager is an author you should add to your list Eager was a British playwright who began to write his own children s stories when he couldn t find anything suitable to read to his son Just as author C S Lewis credits George McDonald for influencing every one of his stories, Eager gives author Edith Nesbit the credit for igniting his own story telling imagination His books are a lovely combination of realistic children and magical adventures.I [...]

Jane, Mark, Katherine, and Martha are back in another magical adventure, this time on vacation by the lake A talking turtle guides them through the difficulties of wishing with wet magic from the lake, and they encounter mermaids, pirates, buried treasure, and take a trek to the South Pole.But their selfish wishes get them into trouble, and it s only when they learn to use their wishes for the good of others that the magic truly begins.One of the best things about Edward Eager s stories is that [...]

This sequel to Half Magic is something I read out loud to my children But it s instructive from a plot perspective Half Magic introduced a brilliantly simple magical device, and much of the humor and plot spun from its tidy rules The gorgeously witty omniscient narration didn t hurt either Fantasy writers take note without the inspired rule which governs Half Magic, the sequel fails The magic of this second book is scattershot, and the logic crumbles quickly Of course I finished reading it aloud [...]

I read Magic by the Lake with my 10 year old, and unfortunately, we were both disappointed After reading and loving Half Magic, we expected great things from this sequel Sadly, Magic by the Lake just doesn t hold up in comparison to Half Magic The magic in the story is rather amorphous, with weird rules that shift and make little sense, and the entire plot feels a bit haphazard I ve loved a few of Edward Eager s magical books, but Magic by the Lake is not one of the best.

Not as strong a story nor as interesting a central concept as Half Magic was but still an enjoyable read There was a bit racism in this book compared with Half Magic as well including part where I chose to just imagine Ewoks instead I am certainly curious about the remaining books and what other sort of central magical ideas they might hold.

Edward Eager s books were stories I loved as a child and having re read them as an adult I still quite enjoy them The stories and characters hold up to the test of time These books are clever and intriguing and the characters are very endearing.

Oh, they don t make many children s books like this any This book was positively enchanting It was reasonable without being mundane ex the four children, while bright and often agreeable, were not saints , thrilling without actually being frightening there s always a deus ex machina to get them out of trouble , and picturesquely quaint who doesn t want to read a book about lakeside magical summer adventures The vocabulary level is also a lot higher than books children often get today I noticed v [...]

I m not sure what I expected when I picked up this book Out of order, mind you, because my friend recommended it and said I could read it out of order I wasn t expecting to be so intrigued, I guess This reminds me of a children s version of Dean s The Secret Country trilogy for some reason.I m tempted to skip to the last one of this series just to see what happens Why Because even if this is a children s book, it has some very curious and interesting potential storylines and rules hinted at Abou [...]

Short and sweet.Four children Three girls and one boy.You have children being rash and reflexive plus the ability of magic They get into trouble after attaining their wish, and being unable to return Goes with the theme of rash decision making There s some silly transformations, teleportation, some tribal cannibalism ugh 1957 In this book, the children became a little altruistic in their wishes, so that was nice.A little too many deu ex machinas Some nice puns and clever writing too.Not sure th [...]

At some point you d think that these books were get repetitive, or wear thin, or get boring, they don t They just stay happily adorable.

Magic by the Lake continues the Edward Eager tradition of using word play to make magic go astray The story is cute and moves right along It seems appropriate for all audiences.

My favorite part was when the characters all managed to help Mr Smith My least favorite part was when they all kept wishing on the lake, wishes that led them all to trouble.

Another fun story from Edward Eager, full of charming adventures and literary allusios to classic children s stories.

Kids loved this book Made me want to read some E Nesbit after researching online author inspiration.

Very interesting Magic works in mysterious ways.

My mom read this to me as a kid and I loved it.

Aha this is where this passage is from, that I think about all the time especially in summer Coolth, said Katharine Blessed, blessed coolth That s no word, said jane It ought to be, said Katharine, pressing on Edward Eager is a particularly interesting addition to the kids finding magic genre, because half of his books just plain HAVE magic, and in the other half, the kids and even the reader are never quite sure whether everything that happens is pure magic or just coincidence This is one of th [...]

Just about the point where the children make the magic by the lake wish, there s a panoramic scene forming a sort of catalog of what SORTS of magic is in the lake This is obviously strongly influenced by the children s formal and literary education, and especially the sort of library books they ve read Not surprising, perhaps, since it s initiated by their wish But it indicates not only the scope but also the limits of where the magic can take them Though they resist being made to learn things n [...]

This is the third book in the Tales of Magic series by Edward Eager It s an entertaining, fast read and our oldest and I both read it independently For some reason, we borrowed this book before Knight s Castle, so we ll plan to read that one next It merges the characters from the first two books and it didn t matter too much that we d read the books in the wrong order We especially loved the cantankerous old turtle who is magical and wise The pirates made an exciting and dangerous addition to th [...]

Katharine noticed a sign by the front door Magic by the Lake, it said Katharine looked at Mark, a wild guess in her eyes Do you suppose For the four children had had experience of magic, or at least a kind of half magic, in the past After the half magic was over, they wondered if they d ever have any magic adventures again, and in the book about it it says it was a long time before they knew the answer And here it was only three weeks later, and already Katharine was ready for But if you think [...]

I enjoyed Magic by the Lake much than I did the previous book in this series It was great to read about the adventures of Martha, Katherine, Jane, and Mark again They are characters who are becoming much developed and have distinct personalities I love how their personalities and relationships to each other seem so real though I am sure there would be arguing and fighting among four siblings.In this book the children spend the last part of their summer only a few weeks after Half Magic ends a [...]

I ve really enjoyed reading Edward Eager s books to my kids, and Magic by the Lake is no exception As in his earlier books, Eager s descriptions of place are vivid and detailed They draw me in until I feel almost as though I m in a cottage on a midwestern lake in summer rather than in a split level in a suburban neighborhood with a foot of snow on the ground.My daughter loves how the books link together and I love that they do so relatively subtly I won t mention the big link in this one because [...]

One of my favorite books growing up was Half Magic by Edward Eager I loved the crazy adventures the four funny siblings got into, the novelty of the old fashioned setting, and the peculiar nature of the magic they encountered.This book, which serves as something of a sequel to Half Magic, continues all of those wonderful traits Jane, Katherine, Mark, and Martha have concluded their adventures with the strange coin that only grants half wishes, and have gone to the countryside with their mother a [...]

My six year old and I love this series, but this one is just not quite as good as the first two Our favorite parts were chapters 6 8 when the children meetmeone, you will have to read to discover who We also appreciated the fact that Mark was an avid bird watcher and naturalist.

This one didn t hold up to the passage of time as well as most of the other Eager books I don t think I read this one as a kid, but I read several of the others, and they stood up better to re reading In this one, the occasional greed and brattiness of the kids, used as a plot element to get them into trouble with the magic, felt a little forced In addition, the whole sequence with the island cannibals was just painful It might have worked in the 1920s, when the book was set, but not in the 1950 [...]