≡ Download Free Half Magic Edward Eager N M Bodecker Illustrator 9780152020682 Books

Half Magic Edward Eager N M Bodecker Illustrator 9780152020682 Books

Download As PDF : Half Magic Edward Eager N M Bodecker Illustrator 9780152020682 Books

Half Magic Edward Eager N M Bodecker Illustrator 9780152020682 Books

I loved this book as a child. It was the first long chapter-book I remember reading. Recently, I ordered it for one of my grandsons, 8 years old, and decided to re-read it. There is a timeless quality to the story, especially for a person who grew up in a family of four children, 3 girls and a boy. I was like Jane, the oldest. After reading the book, I re-read it at least twice more. I always kept my eyes on the sidewalk, just in case an ancient talisman might be shining in the sun. There is still magic in this book 50+ years after I first read it.


Tags : Half Magic [Edward Eager, N. M. Bodecker (Illustrator)] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV>Since Half Magic</i> first hit bookshelves in 1954, Edward Eager’s tales of magic have become beloved classics. Now four cherished stories by Edward Eager about vacationing cousins who stumble into magical doings and whimsical adventures are available in updated hardcover and paperback formats. The original lively illustrations by N. M. Bodecker have been retained,Edward Eager, N. M. Bodecker (Illustrator),Half Magic,Sandpiper,0152020683,Fairy Tales & Folklore - General,Fantasy & Magic,Magic;Fiction.,Space and time;Fiction.,Wishes;Fiction.,Children: Grades 4-6,Fantasy & magical realism (Children's Teenage),Fiction,JUVENILE,JUVENILE FICTION Fairy Tales & Folklore General,JUVENILE FICTION Family Siblings,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Fiction Classics,Juvenile Fiction Fantasy & Magic,Juvenile Grades 4-6 Ages 9-11,Magic,Space and time,United States,Wishes,Coins

Half Magic Edward Eager N M Bodecker Illustrator 9780152020682 Books Reviews

I loved this book as a child and have enjoyed reading it to my children as an adult. It's lighthearted, quirky and fun. It's written in a style that is engaging for toddlers, while being challenging enough for my 8 year old to both grasp and read. I'm looking forward to reading more by Edward Eager. It's a great intro to the fantastical - a genre I continue to enjoy to this day.
I first read Half Magic when I was about seven years old. It was the first book I read "all by myself" and I was thunderstruck. It's a wonderfully literary and literate story of four siblings who find a magic charm that works by halves. (If, for example, you wish to be on a desert island, you might end up in the desert.) They have to figure out the "rules" as they go along, and they learn lessons along the way. The author, Edward Eager, is obviously a big fan of E. Nesbit, and acknowledges his debt to her in this and other books. Mr. Eager never "talks down" to his young readers, and I think this allows the book to stand up well for those of us who re-read it as adults. I would certainly recommend this for childen who are ready to "really read" and the adults willing to let them.
I must also say that I love the illustrations, too, and I much prefer the cover of the hardback edition to that of the paperback.
So this is what Dr. Eager did in his spare time. If Half Magic is indicative of his bedside manner, he must have been a very good doctor indeed. For this is one of those sleepy time read-in-bed books like the Chronicles of Narnia, that gently draw you into their fantastic world at that drowsy time when good things seem so much more possible and you're about to drift off into the Land of Nod.
Half Magic is written in that wonderful, light, easy 'fifties style that gets so easily overlooked in favor of more extreme excitements. Later discovered, though, one simply wonders how writing could have ever been this good. A wonderfully understated example is shown in the genial attitude of the good samaritan stranger who helps out the young adventurers. He's first respectful of their mother,then falls more and more in love as the book goes on. This undercurrent is so subdued and tasteful that it's barely noticeable amid the magical misadventures until the conclusion of the book.
The Leave it to Beaver approach to problem solving is also delighfully refreshing--the spells only half work; unlike the obvious fantasy formulae in countless later books and movies, the magic leaves plenty of room for human ingenuity and skill,as well as the need to make decisions. Eager's other great fantasy, Knight's Castle, also continues in this vein, the hyjinks and hilarity deriving from,and always affirming,the human.
Like many other adult reviewers of this book, I loved it as a kid. Edward Eager consciously emulated the English author E. Nesbit. In fact, early on in this book he pays homage to Nesbit by having the children check out of the local library "books by a writer named E. Nesbit, surely the most wonderful books in the world." Nesbit wrote in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and "Half Magic" was published in 1954, but set in the 1920s. So, Eager was intentionally harking back to an earlier, and simpler, time. The book is well done and has the a good mix of humor, adventure, and action that should attract pre-teen readers. At least, I would like to think so, but I wonder whether even 8 or 9 year olds might find these books a bit creaky. I didn't think to give them to my children when they were younger (they are in their late teens now), so I have no direct knowledge of whether current day children would enjoy them enough to put aside computer games and cable television.
I love this book. But not this edition. The cover art is atrocious, not at all relevant to the story. The typeface is not welcoming to young readers.
I love the original illustrations, but they are poorly reproduced here.
I can’t read this to my grandchildren.
I read this book with my kids, my ten year old son and 8 year old daughter. It's a very fun and easy read with adventure, magic, and humor. The heroes are 4 siblings, 3 girls and a boy, which helps to connect with boys and girls. My kids absolutely loved it, they would give it 5 stars. I personally would give it 3 or 3.5, hence the rating of 4. It was certainly a fine book and fun to read, I just didn't find it quite as clever and special as other books we've read such as The Witches by Roald Dahl.

A warning to parents who are offended by violence. There is a scene in which 2 knights bascially butcher each other to death (only to be quickly reassembled by magic minutes later). It's a relatively bloodless scene given what actually happens, and I personally am not bothered by this sort of stuff in kids books nor are my kids. For example there is some gruesome and macabre action in The Witches. But it is worth noting and if you're bothered by that you may want to skip it or avoid the book. You could skip it - it comes soon after they meet Sir Launcelot - without missing the flow of the story.

Note to publisher....the kindle for iPad version we read had quite a few typos in it...far more than I've ever seen in any format. There were sections we had to reread several times to decipher.
This book is absolutely fantastic. It's the story of four children who find a magic coin at the beginning of their summer vacation... except the coin only grants half of each wish, leading to a string of adventures that will make you feel like you're a kid on summer vacation with your three siblings, a slightly grumpy cat, and a magic coin.
I loved this book as a child. It was the first long chapter-book I remember reading. Recently, I ordered it for one of my grandsons, 8 years old, and decided to re-read it. There is a timeless quality to the story, especially for a person who grew up in a family of four children, 3 girls and a boy. I was like Jane, the oldest. After reading the book, I re-read it at least twice more. I always kept my eyes on the sidewalk, just in case an ancient talisman might be shining in the sun. There is still magic in this book 50+ years after I first read it.