Half Magic

Rating:
Summary: Still magic after all these years
Review: I first read Half Magic when I was seven, courtesy of the El Segundo Public Library, and twenty years later, I still love it. My abiding love of children's literature probably began right here, in a book that has everything - plot, humor, intelligence, and fabulous characters.

Half Magic obeys the rules of great magic books that are carefully delineated by the main characters in the first chapter. (See what I mean about intelligence and wit?) The magic has its own rules, which they must discover. They thwart the magic. Then the magic thwarts them. If it's a formula, it's one Edward Eager developed, and it works - you don't want to stop reading, from King Arthur's court to a highly magical ending. (And I have no intention of telling you where that is.)

Even though the plot is exceptional, it's the characters that truly make the book. The four children are clearly *people* - it's easy to imagine meeting them on the street or in a park - and not merely characters on a page. And even though the book is set in the 1930s, and was written in the 1950s, the kids still resonate. We all know, or were, Martha - "Martha was the youngest, and very difficult." Likewise with Jane and Katherine. "Katherine *would* keep boasting about what a comfort she was, and how docile, until Jane declared she would utter a piercing shriek and fall over dead if she heard another word about it."

This first book in Eager's loosely-intertwined series is a masterpiece of children's literature. Children and adults alike will love Half Magic. Start here - and remember, to read one is to want them all.

(NB: the quotes used here came from my memory - I checked them before I submitted the review, of course - and normally my memory is not the best. That should tell you something about the strength of this book, or at least the impression it made on me.)

Rating:
Summary: Half Magic
Review: Half Magic by Edward Eager published by Harcourt; (March 1999)

If you like fantasy, here's the book for you. Half Magic is an exciting story about 4 children during the summer who find a strange talisman. At first they think it's just a coin, but then things start to happen. Things like a surprise trip to the Sahara Desert with an arab kidnapper, a playhouse fire, a half-invisible girl, a half-talking cat, and other strange things. Usually their summers are quite dull, with their mother working all the time and being stuck at home with a strict house keeper, but this summer turns out to be quite different.

The main characters in this weird, but wonderful, book are 4 children, Jane, Mark, Katherine and Martha who are siblings. Jane, who is the oldest, is the one who actually found the talisman. She is the one that is sort of in charge of what they do with the talisman because she is the one who found it, and because she is the oldest. Mark is always very frustrated because he is the only boy. He feels no one understands him. Katherine is supposed to be the "docile one, and a comfort to her mother." She likes Shakespeare and poetry very much. Martha is the youngest and always feels left out. She doesn't get much say in what they do with the talisman and she can't keep up with the rest when they walk. There's also one more character named Mr. Smith who is the only adult who understands the unique magic of the talisman.

I liked this book very much. It is good for all ages. It's a very funny book, and lots of the situations the talisman gets them into will leave you smiling or even laughing. I like the style of writing that is used in this book because it is easy to understand, but at the same time it enhances the weirdness of the situations they end up in. Parts of it could be more exciting, and at the end it is sort of strange but it is great all the same. It is very creative and I think it is a great book for kids.

Rating:
Summary: Magic divided by two= A Great Fantasy
Review: Half Magic

Half Magic is a magical fantasy by Edward Eager. Edward Eager has written several books about magical adventures.
Half Magic begins when four children find an interesting looking coin in a crack in the ground. Soon they find out that if you wish something while holding the coin it comes half true. The children go on many magical adventures by wishing everything twice. After awhile the magic starts wearing down. The children decide to give the coin to another child so the magic can go on forever and ever.
I liked this story because it has lots of different settings. If you don't like fantasy very much you could enjoy this book because it travels into history and takes you through some historical events. I would recommend this book to a third grader up to a sixth grader who likes magic and adventures.

Rating:
Summary: Half Magic is Wholly Wonderful
Review: This is an amazingly imaginative book I've known about and enjoyed for a long time, ever since bedtime stories. Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha are four ordinary kids in an ordinary place (the ever fascinating Toledo, Ohio) from an ordinary family who suddenly come across the extraordinary. At first it appears to be just another nickel laying on the sidewalk, but it turns out to be a magical token that will change these children's lives. What's even better is that it's not a completely right magic--when a wish is made only half of it comes true. (If you asked for two ice cream cones, you'd get one.) That makes the story even more lovable--besides the human, non-magical children, even the magic isn't perfect. The relationships of the brother and sisters in the story are great and the situations in which they find themselves are some that even we as readers without half-magic tokens can enjoy experiencing through the words on the pages. Deserts, knights and duels, circus bareback riding, talking cats, jewel thieves...anything is possible in Edward Eager's "Half Magic."

Rating:
Summary: Only half? So, this review deserves 20!
Review: This book is one of those books that you find yourself reading every summer, every year, and always remember. Its starts out with 4 children, lets call them us. There's of course, the stubborn myoungest, which is a quality everyone has at one time. And, there's the wise one, Mark, who's always reading. The one who wishes they were the oldest, and is romantic, always reading poetry. And, the always knowing Jane. Sound familiar to people you know?
We all hope that magic exists, somewhere deep down. But, are too ashamed to admit it. Still, there's this longing. This applies to the 4 children. They find a coin. Ordinary enough. Lets change that, too magical.
At the most random moments, the children find themselves in the oddest and most amusing places and situations, and their wishes working, well, sort of working. The thing is, that the best part for the children wasn't that all their wishes came true. It was that-Oops, I had better stop now.

Rating:
Summary: MAGICALY ENCHANTED
Review: Half Magic
This novel, is about 4 children looking for an adventure. One day the oldest of the children jane finds what she thinks is a nickel. It turns out to be a magical coin. this takes them on the adventure they have been looking for. It takes them to visit sir lancelot, a desert, and turns the littlest one into a ghost. Their mother feels like she is having a nervous breakdown and is becoming mentally ill. Will they get through all these adventures without getting killed by three knights and a half statue, half dog? I give this book 2 thumbs up. It is a marvelous book for children.

Rating:
Summary: Magic divided by two= A Great Fantasy
Review: Half Magic

Half Magic is a magical fantasy by Edward Eager. Edward Eager has written several books about magical adventures.
Half Magic begins when four children find an interesting looking coin in a crack in the ground. Soon they find out that if you wish something while holding the coin it comes half true. The children go on many magical adventures by wishing everything twice. After awhile the magic starts wearing down. The children decide to give the coin to another child so the magic can go on forever and ever.
I liked this story because it has lots of different settings. If you don't like fantasy very much you could enjoy this book because it travels into history and takes you through some historical events. I would recommend this book to a third grader up to a sixth grader who likes magic and adventures.

Rating:
Summary: A Magical Book
Review: A Magical Book
Half Magic
By: Edward Eager

Half Magic is about 4 children, Jane, Mark, Martha, and Katharine who get a magical coin that only works by halves. Jane the oldest always seems to be different from her siblings. Because she doesn't appear to agree with them much. Mark the only boy and is the second oldest child, doesn't mind much about being the only man around the house and doesn't become annoyed with his sisters much theat often although he wishes to have a dad. Martha the middle child is always ignored by her family. But she is let to say her opinions and ideas very often in necessary times. And Katharine the youngest does mostly annoying things to her siblings that might explain for being shoved under a movie theater seat! But Katherine doesn't mind she just choose to sleep through it.
So these creative children's adventure takes time long ago when movies didn't have any sound and had to be written down. The 4 children's adventures include many things put back in history into Camelot and in the desert. There are man more places that journeys have been taken. Now the old charms to only be worked by halves. The children at first had the coin and coincidently made a wish. But they had not known that the coin had given there wish but only half of it. Then one day when there mother had the coin, she thought it was a nickel and made a wish that she would be home, and only got half of it. She than found herself in the road halfway from home. And there she found a very nice gentleman who gave her a lift there home . Then the children got suspicious and knew what it was now. They had also find out theat you had to wish more than its value to get what you really want. Like " I wish I was twice as far from here.
They had many more adventures then that besides being half invisible . The nice gentleman got to know the family even more on this incredible journey. I believe the theme is " never make a wish without making it worth twice more than what you really want". As my opinion this book is one of the best book I 've picked up on the library's shelf not even knowing what great things were in the book.

Rating:
Summary: I still reread this Eagerly.
Review: Edward Eager wrote seven books, each featuring a gang of rambunctious kids with lots of ideas, plenty of stuffy grown-ups and boring rules to dislike, and E. Nesbit books to check out from the library, and a tendency to find magic stuff. Of course there's always a twist, and here it's that wishes don't always work as well as the kids want them to. There's also a love story tied into it--their widowed mother finds an odd but likeable man--and the usual pile of time travel, jewelry, and finger pointing when things go wrong.

The magic's main 'trick' may wear on a bit at the end, but all the different scenes feature fairly standard wishes that never turn out as expected and yet don't contain too much tortured explanation. Sometimes the situations have no visible magic, and there's even a humorous sort of ghost story. The best may be the passages where children look for magic or realize it's gone for the moment(time to use their heads,) or close to gone for good. Some mythological figures get taken down a peg for good measure, and even if it's all a bit slapstick, it hasn't been copied too heinously yet.

Except possibly by Eager. With each ensuing magic book his explanations get a bit more tortured, with the device to see historical or fictional characters becoming more complex. The characterizations become too exaggerated, and it's not as fun to believe. Maybe his own writing magic drained like the charm in the book--but like the charm near the end, it's still effective.

The drop off in enjoyment is something that I didn't see in Nesbit's more overtly original literary guide, E. Nesbit. Later Eager books force you to know a good bit about some middling established children's literature--and his previous books. But it definitely didn't start that way with Half Magic and its simple new idea. The dialogue makes great jumps, blending Important Questions Kids Have with accepted conventions of fantasy, i.e. the kids getting mad at being called elfspawn. The fantasy scenes are also memorable with the villains giving great laughs, and it's a very quick read. And you'll enjoy the pictures too.

Rating:
Summary: Half Magic
Review: Half Magic by Edward Eager published by Harcourt; (March 1999)

If you like fantasy, here's the book for you. Half Magic is an exciting story about 4 children during the summer who find a strange talisman. At first they think it's just a coin, but then things start to happen. Things like a surprise trip to the Sahara Desert with an arab kidnapper, a playhouse fire, a half-invisible girl, a half-talking cat, and other strange things. Usually their summers are quite dull, with their mother working all the time and being stuck at home with a strict house keeper, but this summer turns out to be quite different.

The main characters in this weird, but wonderful, book are 4 children, Jane, Mark, Katherine and Martha who are siblings. Jane, who is the oldest, is the one who actually found the talisman. She is the one that is sort of in charge of what they do with the talisman because she is the one who found it, and because she is the oldest. Mark is always very frustrated because he is the only boy. He feels no one understands him. Katherine is supposed to be the "docile one, and a comfort to her mother." She likes Shakespeare and poetry very much. Martha is the youngest and always feels left out. She doesn't get much say in what they do with the talisman and she can't keep up with the rest when they walk. There's also one more character named Mr. Smith who is the only adult who understands the unique magic of the talisman.

I liked this book very much. It is good for all ages. It's a very funny book, and lots of the situations the talisman gets them into will leave you smiling or even laughing. I like the style of writing that is used in this book because it is easy to understand, but at the same time it enhances the weirdness of the situations they end up in. Parts of it could be more exciting, and at the end it is sort of strange but it is great all the same. It is very creative and I think it is a great book for kids.