5/27/2023 0 Comments Half magic by edward eager![]() ![]() ![]() Jane was the oldest and Mark was the only boy, and between them they ran everything. ![]() Here is the best character-introduction passage ever: In Half Magic, Jane, Mark, Katharine and Martha are children growing up in the 1920s (as we can infer from the illustrations, the fact that they go to see a silent movie, and by the book’s publication date). While the children’s goal is ultimately adventure and amusement, a more pressing, important task or quest-coming to the aid of one of the clueless adults, usually-reveals itself near the end of the book. They have to learn the magic’s rules and boundaries, sometimes guided by an enigmatic Psammead-like figure, all the while keeping it hidden from the clueless adults in their lives. A group of four or five children (usually siblings or cousins), living a humdrum small-town or suburban life, stumble upon some kind of wish-granting magic. Nesbit’s, and he shamelessly borrows her storytelling formula. Eager packs his text with literary and cultural references, but you don’t need to have read Saki or Shakespeare or Sir Walter Scott… you just feel like you’re missing something if you haven’t.Įager’s novels are a direct homage to E. Except much funnier, and not pretentious, and you don’t have to find a dictionary or study the footnotes. Reading an Edward Eager book is a bit like reading a T.S. ![]()
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