Half Magic

Half Magic (Tales of Magic #1)

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94  ·  rating details  ·  13,571 ratings  ·  696 reviews
Edward Eager's hilarious and heartwarming "Half Magic has been working wizardry on young readers for fifty years. To celebrate the golden anniversary of this enduringly popular story, a deluxe edition of the book has been created. It features the original jacket, a ribbon marker, two-color printing, and a new introduction by Jack Gantos, the award-winning author of "Joey P...more
Published (first published 1954)
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Abigail
Apr 27, 2008 Abigail rated it 2 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: E. Nesbit Readers
Review Temporarily Removed.
Manny
Jan 20, 2013 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Manny by: Judith
"It seems a shame," said Jane, "that no one's going to know about our adventures. They would make such a good book. If only we could write them down!"

"But how would we do that?" asked Mark. "We're just kids. Oh. Wait. You don't mean..."

"I certainly do!" said Jane. "We just have to wish for it, and the Charm will take care of the rest. But we need to wish very carefully. Now, what kind of book do we want it to be?"

"I want it to be like one of E. Nesbit's books!" said Katherine. "Though... if the...more
colleen
oh, one of my all time favorites. i LOVE when they wish the cat could talk and since it is half-magic, the cat's every other word is "meow."

i bought this (and the rest of the series) for my niece for christmas a couple of years ago, and i can't wait until my daughters are old enough to read it.
Kirei
This is about four siblings who find a magic charm that can fulfill wishes.

There is a part about an Arab. He is supposed to be a not very nice guy. I felt I had to address this in my review. I did not like the way he was portrayed, yet at the same time we have to remember that this was written in the nineteen-fifties. It is unfortunate that this chapter is part of the book, but oh well.... Other than that I thought it was a cute book.

I did like how this book refers to other famous books, parti...more
Donald
Oct 11, 2007 Donald rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: The Young Of All Ages
Edward Eager was my very first "favorite" author. I remember reading "Half Magic" and feeling a light turn on in my mind; my imagination was stimulated like never before. This is the first of a series of magical adventures involving two sets of children, who are intertwined biologically and magically (in Eager's later book "The Time Garden," the children of the characters in this book and "Magic By The Lake" would be saved by their own future children). Basically, this is the story of four child...more
Logan
Listened to this on CD on a trip and Logan loved it. This is the first of Eager's magic books. He was a great fan of E. Nesbit and his books pay homage to her. A group of siblings finds a coin that grants wishes, but they realize quickly that they only get half what they wish for. Of course, even when they figure that out, it's still true that that wishes often don't turn out quite the way you planned! Some sexism, as it was written in the 50's about the 20's, but other than that, nice family en...more
Spencer
I read the first 2 chapters a day or two ago and was intrigued. Today I picked it up again and read the third chapter. It had me laughing out loud. So, I finished it today.

This is, apparently, a children's book. Back in the day, children were considerably more well-read. They would have had to be, otherwise they would miss the multitude of references to other works of literature. For example there is the part that goes something like this (not quoting verbatim, but it goes something generally li...more
Mamamaggie
maggie and I really liked this book. It is the first we have read together that is this length & we are very excited to read more creative fiction like this together. Very much like Edward Eager's writing and plan on starting the next of the series.
maggie (6 yo) liked the pictures and the magic coin. that was her favorite part. in the book possession of the magic coin allows the possessor's wishes to come half-true. it was imaginative but not frightening, even in the section where knights of...more
Melissa
It’s rare to stumble upon a book that makes you wish you were a kid again, just so you could read it for the first time while you were young. That’s exactly how I felt about Half Magic.

In the beginning the story is a simple tale of a magic charm which grants wishes in halves. By the end of the book Eager has captured a deeper essence of fear and pain that haunts not only children, but grown-ups as well. Even as adults we can baulk at life when we lose someone we love or must accept new circumst...more
Heidi
Sep 30, 2012 Heidi rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Grades 3rd-6th
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jesse
Summertime belongs to childhood. The grown-up version, with BBQs and yard work, can’t compare to the long, long days spent exploring and digging in the dirt.

Now, I’m a winter girl, through and through, but when the lightning bugs start to rise up out of the grass, I start to ache for the summers from when I was little. Unfortunately, all the kids who used to comeoutandplay have moved on, and I’ve been trying to eat less dirt, so I was at a loss for a way to revisit my summers.

Then I remembered E...more
Connie
Mostly, I love this book. I liked it as a kid (except for that caveat I'll get to in a minute). I like it now, as a grown-up. The story is interesting and engaging. The trouble the kids get themselves into is believable (well, for a fantasy novel...!), and I like their solutions. The problem of having to double all your wishes is interesting to me. The only thing is...

The only thing is that a whole chapter is taken up with a trip to a desert, where the children run across an evil, wicked, terrib...more
Mitchy
ของนักเขียนคนนี้มีแปลไทยหนึ่งเล่มแล้วคือ "seven days magic"
เล่มนั้นอ่านแล้วรู้สึกเฉยๆ

แต่เล่มนี้อ่านแล้วสนุกดี ถ้าอ่านตอนเด็กกว่านี้น่าจะเป็นหนังสือที่ชอบได้ไม่ยาก
เป็นแนวกลุ่มเด็กพี่น้องที่ได้พบการผจญภัยเกี่ยวกับเวทย์มนต์แบบเรื่องของ E.Nesbit (ซึ่งก็มาอ่านประวัติผู้เขียนแล้วพบว่าเค้าชื่นชอบเนสบิทมากๆจึงเขียนเรื่องเพื่อให้เด็กๆที่ได้อ่านหนังสือของเค้าได้รู้จักกับนักเขียนคนนี้)
แต่เรารู้สึกว่าหนังสือของเนสบิทสนุกกว่า...แต่ก็น่าจะเป็นเพราะได้อ่านตอนเด็กๆนั่นเอง

ภาพประกอบโดย N.M. Bodecker น่ารักมาก
ชั...more
Medford Children's Library
Sep 27, 2007 Medford Children's Library rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: fantasy and comedy fans
Four children find a coin that grants them half a wish. Unfortunately, they don't find out about the magic until each one accidentally makes a wish including their mother. The children have wacky adventures through the desert, king arthur's court, and at the movies. They must learn to wish wisely or surely they will be stuck! Should they tell an adult? What if the coin runs out of wishes? A great fantasy book for 4th grade and up.

Food for thought: If you had one wish what would it be?
Tandava Brahmachari
This is one of the books I remember enjoying as a kid, but didn't remember much else about. I enjoyed revisiting it, but probably in a different way than I did when I was reading it for the first time. Eager's writing has a playful mood to it that kept me smiling all the way through. I like, for instance, introducing Miss Bick, who "came in every day to care for the children, but she couldn't seem to care for them very much, nor they for her." Or how he slips in the comment that the children's m...more
Valerie
I don't like the illustration on the cover of this edition. The edition I read made it clear that the story takes place, not in the 1950s, but in the 1920s, and are the same as the internal illustrations in this book. Furthermore, the language is anything but 'old-fashioned'. People tend to forget that the 1920s were a revolutionary era, and that the modernization they began was shunted onto a siding by the Depression, the War, and the subsequent marterialistic conservatism--and only began to em...more
Ania
Jan 22, 2013 Ania rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of "The Enchanted Castle" by E. Nesbit
Recommended to Ania by: goodreads
I quite like this "Nesbitty" type of children's books where adventure calls. However I had a little tiny beef with how the writer set up this rule of 'half magic'. If the charm on the coin is that it only half-grants your wishes then the writer should stick to just that rule and see where it takes the characters in the story. At times I felt he conveniently changed the meaning of "half magic" to fit whatever he wanted to say next. So, if a wish for going to a deserted island is made, it should o...more
Teresa
I read this for the first time as an adult and although I wouldn� t say it's the greatest kids� book I� ve ever read, the story is lots of fun. Each adventure is just different enough to keep the story from getting tedious. And there� s the kind of humor that� s typical of a lot of classic children� s fiction. I also enjoyed how the children's magical adventures started to pale in comparison to some of the real-life drama. There are a couple of moments of real emotional honesty there, particular...more
Blake
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Sue
Title: Half Magic
Author: Edward Eager
Genre: Yough Adult
Challenges: 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, The Naming Convention Challenge, Book Around the States Challenge, Read and Review Challenge 2010, 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge, 100 + Reading Challenge, Young Adult Reading Challenge, YA Through the Decades, Audio Book Challenge 2010, Pages Read 2010, A to Z challenge, 1001 Childrens book Before I Grow Up

Rating: 4/5
No. of Pages: Audio (208)
Published: 1954


Back Cover: Belove...more
Laura
Four children find a small silver talisman and discovers that it grants wishes. Except that, like all things magic, there's a catch to how the wishes are granted -- the talisman only grants half of what is wished for. When Mark wishes to be on a desert island, the four children find themselves in the middle of a desert. Each child has a magical journey with mishaps and wonder. Their mother even ends up involved, along with a wonderful and somewhat mysterious Mr. Smith.

This fun and clever fantas...more
Judith
I have loved the Edward Eager series since my own childhood 50 years ago, and I read them to my daughter before she could read chapter books. She "eagerly" devoured the series again as an independent reader, and I have purchased these clever and almost wickedly funny novels as gifts for other children often. Eager was a playwright, and his characters, adult and child, are well developed; the dialogue is witty and the fantastic scenes Eager describes are on the borderline of believable. There is...more
Christopher
This was a fun little book that May got for Christmas. Parts were a bit dated, as it was originally published in the 1950s and it is set some time in the 20s or so. The story is good at keeping in the perceptions of the child characters, but societal norms have changed. I found myself cringing at the descriptions of Achmed the Arab, or at the assumptions that the 3 sisters would defer to their brother because he is a boy, or that their mother just wants to be a stay-at-home mother (actually the...more
Elizabeth
I loved this book as a kid, and I'm glad I came across it again now. It's a really *nice* book: there isn't the meanness that happens in some kid stories (okay, I guess I'm still traumatized from our reading of Matilda). I didn't have to explain anything too major or serious to Adriana. The kids are kind to one another and not particularly obnoxious. I was pleased by what came across to me as the benign neglect of parenting in the 1950s--the kids' mother works and there is a housekeeper who is s...more
Jackie "the Librarian"
Five children find a silver medallion, and discover that it grants wishes - but only half-way! Hilarity ensues. My favorite part is when they idly wish the cat could talk. And then, it sort of CAN talk, in kitty fashion. Hee!
This is my favorite book by Eager, with lots of wit and humor. A classic of children's literature, but not in a stuffy way.
Shazza Maddog
I remember reading this book when I was a little girl, and being enchanted by the idea of four siblings finding a magic coin. Re-reading it now, nearly forty years later, it's still a delightfully enchanting book for kids.

While figuring out what sort of adventures they could possibly have during a summer in Toledo, Ohio, Jane, the eldest of four, finds what she thinks is a nickel in a crack of the sidewalk. Instead, what Jane has found is a magic coin - but with a twist - it only grants half of...more
M.
The book has an interesting plot--set in the 1920's, a girl finds what she at first thinks is a nickel but which turns out to be an ancient magic talisman which grants wishes, but only halves of the wishes. For example, wishing that you are on a desert island puts you and whoever is with you in the Sahara Desert. The girl and her siblings have lots of adventures, some unintended, as they figure out how to use the talisman. A subplot involves the children's widowed mother and a possible stepfathe...more
Elisabeth
Dec 28, 2012 Elisabeth marked it as noah-s-books  ·  review of another edition

** It all begins with a strange coin on a sun-warmed sidewalk.




Jane finds the coin, and because she and her siblings are having the
worst, most dreadfully boring summer ever, she idly wishes something
exciting would happen.


And something does: Her wish is granted.


Or not quite. Only half of her wish comes true.


It turns out the coin grants wishes -- but only by half, so that you must wish for twice as much as you want.


Wishing for two times some things is a cinch, but other doubled wishes
only c

...more
Marianne
Half Magic is a story about some kids who are having a very boring summer. That changes when they find a strange coin that gives you wishes you ask for. But soon they discover it gives them half only half what they ask for. So they have to ask for two x what they want. A great book to read any day!
Joanna
The four children's stodgy summer was saved when Jane found a nickel-like charm by the sidewalk. Ever since then, anyone who made a wish, when the charm is in physical contact, the wish would come true. However, the wish only comes in half. Like when Mark wished that they were in a desert island, sure enough, he and his sisters were in a desert, but no island. Soon, the children went on adventures, that involved traveling back in time, fixing a talking cat and changing identity.

I like this book...more
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Goodreads Librari...: Incorrect Publication Year 3 25 Aug 25, 2011 10:27pm  
Half Magic (Tales of Magic, #1)
Half Magic (Audio CD)
Half Magic (Tales of Magic, #1)
Half Magic (Hardcover)
Half Magic (Paperback)

131683
Eager was born in and grew up in Toledo, Ohio and attended Harvard University class of 1935. After graduation, he moved to New York City, where he lived for 14 years before moving to Connecticut. He married Jane Eberly in 1938 and they had a son, Fritz.

Eager was a childhood fan of L. Frank Baum's Oz series, and started writing children's books when he could not find stories he wanted to read to h...more
More about Edward Eager...
Knight's Castle (Tales of Magic, #2) Seven-Day Magic (Tales of Magic, #7) Magic by the Lake (Tales of Magic, #3) The Time Garden (Tales of Magic, #4) Magic or Not? (Tales of Magic, #5)

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“Still, even without the country or a lake, the summer was a fine thing, particularly when you were at the beginning of it, looking ahead into it. There would be months of beautifully long, empty days, and each other to play with, and the books from the library.” 7 people liked it
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