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Mile 4: Magic of Merlin, The

by Stephanie Spinner

4.00 · rating details · 3 ratings · 1 review

In the days of knights and castles, one man knew all the secrets of magic. His name was Merlin. Merlin saw the future. He cast powerful spells. He brought King Arthur to the throne and helped him rule England. Together Merlin and Arthur made history—and became legend.
Kids who love magic won’t want to miss this story of Merlin, the greatest magician ever, and his friendship...more

Mass Market Paperback, 48 pages

Published September 16th 2009 by Random House Books for Young Readers (first published 2000)

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Jun 09, 2007

Heather Clark rated it

Didn't love this book, but am tickled by it, because it was the first library book that Beanie picked out because she was interested in the topic. She wanted Merlin, and we researched him, and found this book.

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Jan 24, 2012

Igraine marked it as auf-gar-keinen-fall

Jan 27, 2011

LP Reads added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4th-grade-summer-reading

Jul 09, 2010

Community District Library added it · review of another edition

Jul 09, 2010

Community District Library added it

May 18, 2010

Shelly rated it

Jun 14, 2009

Stacy rated it

Apr 20, 2009

Kaulin marked it as to-read

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About Stephanie Spinner

I was born in Davenport, Iowa, and grew up in Rockaway Beach, New York. I read straight through my childhood, with breaks for food, sleep, and the bathroom. I went to college in Bennington, Vermont, moved to New York City, and took a job in publishing so I could get paid for reading. I read so much bad fiction that I needed a break, so I moved to London, and from there I traveled to Morocco, Iran,...moreI was born in Davenport, Iowa, and grew up in Rockaway Beach, New York. I read straight through my childhood, with breaks for food, sleep, and the bathroom. I went to college in Bennington, Vermont, moved to New York City, and took a job in publishing so I could get paid for reading. I read so much bad fiction that I needed a break, so I moved to London, and from there I traveled to Morocco, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan India, Nepal, and Ceylon. I came back to America, wandered around some more -- to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize -- and on returning to New York decided to study Tibetan Buddhist painting (called thangka painting) in Boulder, Colorado.

I painted thangkas for many years. Each one took anywhere from several weeks to a few months to complete, and at long last I understood that this was not the ideal way for me to make a living. Only a few hundred Americans collected thangkas, and they wanted old ones, painted by Tibetan monks. It was time to make a change.

So I took another publishing job, this time in children’s books. I found that I liked children’s books a lot, and before long, I became an editor.

Years passed. I was encouraged to write. I scoffed at the idea that I had anything to write about. I edited some wonderfully talented authors -- Virginia Hamilton, Philip Isaacson, Clyde Robert Bulla, Gloria Whelan, Robin McKinley, Joan Vinge, Garth Nix, and Chris Lynch, among others -- with great enjoyment. Writing seemed like torture by comparison.

Then, to my amazement, I found myself writing a book and having a good time -- simultaneously! The book was ALIENS FOR BREAKFAST, and I enjoyed writing it because my co-author was Jonathan Etra. Jon (who died of heart disease in 1990) was a close friend with a wild sense of humor, and collaborating with him changed my opinion of writing forever. After ALIENS FOR BREAKFAST, and ALIENS FOR LUNCH, which we also co-wrote, I began to think that writing could be interesting fun.

And now that I’ve been doing it full-time for more than ten years, I can tell you why I like it better than a job. First, I can work in my bathrobe. (To the FedEx man and the UPS man, I am "the woman in the plaid flannel robe.") Second, I can eat when I’m hungry, choose when to take phone calls, and walk my dogs any time. Third, the only meetings I have -- and they’re short -- are with the dry cleaner and the post office ladies. Fourth, I can read whatever I please. I may tell people I’m doing research when I read about horse-trekking, or hunting in ancient Greece, or 16 ways to better compost, but the truth is, I’m not doing research, I’m having a good time. Which I think is still allowed.(less)

More about Stephanie Spinner...

Books by Stephanie Spinner

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