Tales Of Magic Box Set: Amazon.ca: Edward Eager: Books

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Magic abounds in Edward Eager's world. Whether his young heroes and heroines are awash in a lake full of magic, making double wishes on a half-magic coin, cavorting with Robin Hood and Ivanhoe, or "thyme" traveling, the adventures simply never stop. Eager's ability to mingle reality with fantasy, his delectable wordplay, and light, witty touch make all four of these adventures pure delight. With perfect new cover art by Quentin Blake, as well as the original interior drawings by N.M. Bodecker, this collection of paperbacks--including Half Magic, Knight's Castle, Magic by the Lake, and The Time Garden--deserves an exalted place on every bookshelf of classics. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

Review

Magic abounds in Edward Eager's world. Whether his young heroes and heroines are awash in a lake full of magic, making double wishes on a half-magic coin, cavorting with Robin Hood and Ivanhoe, or "thyme" traveling, the adventures simply never stop. Eager's ability to mingle reality with fantasy, his delectable wordplay, and light, witty touch make all four of these adventures pure delight. With perfect new cover art by Quentin Blake, as well as the original interior drawings by N.M. Bodecker, this collection of paperbacks--including Half Magic, Knight's Castle, Magic by the Lake, and The Time Garden--deserves an exalted place on every bookshelf of classics. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter
(Amazon.com Review )

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.9 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical Perfection, Nov 24 2001

By

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales Of Magic Box Set (Paperback)

Long before Harry Potter, there was a set of equally wonderful books about magic that had a profound impact on my childhood. I think I must have read these thoroughly imaginative and wonderful books hundreds of times each...snuggled under the covers with my purloined cookies and a flashlight.

Beginning with "Half Magic," which takes place in the 20s, these books are timeless. They are stories about intelligent, thoughtful children who come across something magic (in "Half Magic," it's a nickel-like coin; in "The Thyme Garden," it's a magical toad) and go on to have incredibly fanciful adventures. The joy of the books is that the children react, not with wide-eyed wonder, but with a great deal of skepticism. They quickly find out that they must learn the rules of the magic to make it work properly, and that is no easy thing. Along the way, they need to adopt a form of teamwork and discipline--especially when fighting dragons ("Knight's Castle")!

The children in these books, both those of the 1920s and those of "modern life" (probably the 50s, when the books were written) are highly literate. As a child, I loved the bon mots from "Little Women," "Ivanhoe," and "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table." Will today's computerized kids get the inferences? And if they don't, will they want to find out more about these classics?

All I know is that even today I can vividly remember the scene where the kids, stuck inside a summer cabin on a hot, rainy day, make hot cocoa and pack winter provisions as they sit around a bucket of water waiting to be transported to the South Pole ("Magic by the Lake"). I still love these books, and am thrilled that they are still available.

A must for bookish children; a must for parents who yearn for a simpler time.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Books to reread all your life!, Oct 29 2000

By

Bradley Friedman (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tales Of Magic Box Set (Paperback)

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!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Run, don't walk, and Hit your "Buy With 1-Click Now!", Mar 13 2004

By

Kathleen A. Martin "kam1953f" (Walkerton, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tales Of Magic Box Set (Paperback)

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.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Half Magic
i gave this book only 3 1/2 stars because it jumped around. it is a great fairtale without the fairys. it had adventure and danger also, friends and family. Read more

Published on Dec 4 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars The best, funniest, and most imaginative magic books ever
Knight's Castle was the first Edward Eager book I read and after that I could not get enough of them. Read more

Published on Nov 27 2002 by Candace