ABANDONED. Series about children with magic powers

[Anna]

The ogre downstairs
Authors: Diana Wynne Jones
try this book

[April Ann]

I'm going to suggest the "Witch World" series. I came across it while searching for another puzzle. But, I think it's a stretch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_World

[Mel]

Definitely not it (published 20 years too late) but found this when I was trying to figure out my shapeshifter question which sounds quite similar to what you were describing and definitely has the hallmarks of HP influence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_...

Mel

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Ok, I know you turned down the Witch World books, but what about one of Andre Norton's
"Magic" books? Lavender Green MagicOctagon Magic etc. I think there are like 6 or 8 books in this--very loosely tied together--series

[Ketutar]

I too would have said it was Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones; boarding school, magic, alternate "modern day" English, children flee from the school area into surrounding forest, published 1982 - but you say "It's def. not a Diana Wynne Jones book".

Sounds really interesting :-) I like all the books mentioned, and would like to know which book it is, when you finally find out. I hope you do :-)

[Mir]

I don't recall Witch Week having a flight into the forest.

[Kaion]

It does!

ETA: No worries, It's one of my favorites by DWJ and therefore know it like the back of my hand.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Miriam I too remember the flight into the woods from the Witch Week book. I too love, love, LOVE DWJ. :o) Have lots of her books. Heck, I have to admit to evening having the film of "Howl's Moving Castle" (which has very little to do with the book, but hey, its still fun to own.)

[Mir]

Did you get Enchanted Glass yet?

[Dawn]

I know it's a long shot...but... some of Zenna Henderson's People stories seem to fit this
Pilgrimage: The Book of the People

There are a couple of books she did with this theme, and one where some short stories were combined into a longer themed novel, too.

[Dawn]

I know for a fact I ran into them in a middle school library, and it wouldn't have surprised me to see them in a grade school one.

There's several stories involving the teacher at the school and the kids and their powers. At least one story has a magic feel, too.

[Jackie]

Anna

I have been trying to find this book series too. I remember reading in the late 70's the only things I can remember two kids I believe a boy and a girl they had an old carpet that would be stiff so they could fly on it. Also remembering from one of the stories that they were in the woods they had a gallon of milk that they had put in the stream to stay cold they had peanutbutter I think from home. They weren't witches but when you mentioned the wican element it sounded similar. I loved the books and I know there was more than one.

[Andre]

Anna wrote: "Okay, a little more info and then I may retire this one to "Orphaned." The book is definitely about a boy with magic powers of a sort who goes to school. It is not fantasy and I read it before 1986..."

I remember a book that's awfully similar to what you're describing here, and I'm wondering if we're remembering the same book. But I can't remember the title either! I remember some different things too though, so maybe you can tell me if I trigger anything.

In the book I read, a boy goes to a wizard school - definitely more realistic British type of setting, like Harry Potter, rather than fantastical. One of the first things he does wrong when he gets there is travel the wrong way around the building. Boys go widdershins and girls go the other way, or maybe it was the opposite. Anyway, widdershins was definitely mentioned, and it was a rare word that stuck in my mind at the time. He also had to wear a special robe (I know, sounds like the school robes of Harry Potter.)

I don't remember the exact title, but I remember it was a very high-energy title having something to do with blood and thunder. The climax of the book was a fast-paced chase or battle of some sort at night during a storm.

And it had to have been written by the end of the 1980s for sure, because I was gearing up for a voracious reading childhood at the turn of the decade, and my memory of the book is so hazy that I had to have been fairly young when I read it. I know it was good enough to reread at least once, though, or I might not have remembered it at all.

Edit: I remembered correctly about the "blood and thunder" part; I just didn't have time to search enough when I posted originally. The book I'm thinking of which could possibly be Anna's book is The Blood and Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak. The edition on Goodreads is listed as 2001, but it was published at least as far back as 1989, so it nearly fits the timeframe. I couldn't remember anything specific about the magic either, but it's definitely "real" magic rather than being imagined by the characters.

Edit 2: There were pen and ink drawings in it, too!

[Mir]

Andre, I think you might be conflating a couple books. The different directions for boys and girls is definitely Wizard's Hall by Jane Yolen. The school in that is sort of Harry-Potter-like although there is no "Muggle" or modern world part -- the land the school is in is purely fantasy. That has a tense climax with the Quilted Beast but I wouldn't call it "fast-paced" and there is no chase. So that might be from something else.

[Andre]

Miriam wrote: "Andre, I think the book you might be conflating a couple books. The different directions for boys and girls is definitely Wizard's Hall by Jane Yolen. The school in that is sort of Ha..."

Hmm, very possible. It was a long time ago.

[Grace]

The flying carpet book is "Witch in the House" and the milk/peanutbutter in stream book is "Baked Beans for Breakfast." Both by Ruth Chew. She wrote stories about kids, often in New York's parks, finding items left over by witches, or encountering witches and wizards. Some of her stories weren't magical, such as Baked Beans for Breakfast where a brother and sister run away from a mean babysitter and live independently until they are reported to the police.


Jackie wrote: "Anna

I have been trying to find this book series too. I remember reading in the late 70's the only things I can remember two kids I believe a boy and a girl they had an old carpet that would be..."

[Cathy]

April Ann wrote: "Spell Me a Witch by Barbara Willard, pub. 1981.

Summary: The half-learned magic of apprentices goes awry during The Three's inspection of the Academy for Young Witches. "

Anna wrote: "This one sounds intriguing. Although, is it comedy? I don't think the book I'm looking for was funny. I can't find anymore specific descriptions of this one and my library doesn't have it. :( "

Here's some information I just found on this book from an ebay seller's description:

Why does Belladonna Agrimony, the principal of the Academy for Young Witches, doubt her ability to stop the Bucket-and-Water Spell her tune young pupils have set in motion and then are unable to cancel? Why is she, a member of the highest order of witches, not able to see through Betony, her assistant, as she does through every­body else? How can her prize pupil Angelica have vanished without a trace? Is her witchiness de­clining?

Then word is received that the school is to be inspected by the three most ancient, most re­spected, and most dreaded of the Sevenly Sister­hood-Hellebore, Hypericum, and Henbane. A program is hastily and frantically prepared, in which each young apprentice witch has to work a spell for the entertainment of the visitors. At first things go splendidly, but chaos results when Angelica suddenly appears as a little pig wearing a blazer and a round school hat. Will Bella­donna, Betony, and all the young witches be able to change Angelica back into human form before The Three carry her off to display as an example of irreversible transformation?

There's some more description on the photo of the back of the audiobook: http://cgi.ebay.com/BARBARA-WILLARD-S...

[Melissa]

Are you talking about the books by Ursula K. Le Guin? The first in the series is called A Wizard of Earthsea.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Anna, are you still looking for this?

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Anna, if you come back in about once a month or so and bump the thread (just type Bump or anything) then it will keep it in peoples minds, so if anyone actually finds the book, then they will be able to let you know what the title is without having to go through 2 years worth of posts.

[Merrilee]

I just did a search on worldcat for "magic" and "boarding school" for juveniles from 1970-1984 and the only book that came up is Diana Wynn Jones' "Witch Week" and you've said that's not your book. Was the boarding school actually a magical boarding school, or did the characters use their imagination to pretend they were magical like Jess and Leslie do in Terebethia? You were probably finishing grade school when I discovered reading was pretty awesome (I had just been "cured" of dyslexia) in my first run through first grade. (you mention reading them in 1984 when I was 3 and my favorite book was "Sloppy Kisses" by Elizabeth Winthrop.) Just keep on trekking. I was privy to a lady finding her book after several years and many non-BOOKS (if you know what I mean).

[Merrilee]

Did another search, same parameters except for the juvenile part, and only two books came up: witch week (not your book) and a "Shadowland" by Peter Straub. It sounds took creepy to be a children's book though one of the goodreads reviewers said he wanted to read it when he was 10 but never got the chance.

[Justine]

Groosham Grange is a possibility - has a boy that's sent away to a school for "gifted" children.

Or maybe something from this list https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Thomas]

The power of 5 also known as the Gatekeepers in the US

[Abby]

Anna, it's a long shot, but did any of the last four posts contain your book?
Still looking?

[Eric]

I just stumbled across this site, and this sounds like a book that I, too, am looking for that I loved in my childhood. It would have been the early 1970s when I read it and I remember a school boy accidently going to a boarding witch school that MAY have been set in the UK. I remember one scene where someone from the school is interviewing the little boy and asks where his parents were educated and he replies, Cambridge. The senior witch is very impressed, but misunderstands the name as something like 'Gormbridge', a high ranking witch University. That is all I can remember. This thread has brought back a lot of titles that were favourites. I hope this helps in our search!

[Lexi]

Most of the books I can think of that sound like your description were published in the 90's or later.
Have you tried creating a shelf on your My Books page that includes just similar books that you read around the same time, then checking the recommendations that shelf produces? It doesn't always work, but I have found several books I was looking for this way.

[Mir]

Nyxia wrote: "Most of the books I can think of that sound like your description were published in the 90's or later.
Have you tried creating a shelf on your My Books page that includes just similar books that yo..."

I never would've thought of that, Nyxia; clever!

[Eric]

"Have you tried creating a shelf on your My Books page that includes just similar..."

I am trying that, and found some others that I had forgotten about...but still not the one we are looking for!

[Charlotte]

I think i am also looking for the same book. it starts that the boy was a seventh son of a seventh son and that was the reason he went to the academy, set in the modern day, cant remember much about the plot but i think his teachers were monsters? a vampire and a weirwolf come to mind. the end of the book he is back home after a great time at school magically stirring a milkshake wondering what is to come next year. I have been looking for this book for a long time and also saw the plot similarities with harry potter.

[Lau]

Charlotte the book you're referring to might be Magyk but the one on this post was released early I believe.

[Rainbowheart]

Might be too young, but I found The Witches' School by Joan Cass. There's at least one other in this series.

[Charlotte]

The book I'm looking for I read in the late 80s that's why I thought this post was for the same book. Thank you Lau but that's not the book. Will keep looking :)

[Anna]

Eric wrote: "I just stumbled across this site, and this sounds like a book that I, too, am looking for that I loved in my childhood. It would have been the early 1970s when I read it and I remember a school boy..."

That's a scene from The Little Broomstick though it's not the book that OP looks for as it has already been suggested and dismissed.

[Michele]

Eric wrote: "The senior witch is very impressed, but misunderstands the name as something like 'Gormbridge', a high ranking witch University."

That's definitely in The Little Broomstick. But the main character in that one is a girl, and the original poster said that her main character was for sure a boy.

[Eric]

Michele wrote: "Eric wrote: "The senior witch is very impressed, but misunderstands the name as something like 'Gormbridge', a high ranking witch University."

That's definitely in [book:The Little Broomstick|3409..."

Thank you so much...I guess I didn't remember it as well as I thought!! As soon as I saw the cover I said 'Aha..that's it!"

[Jessica]

It's been a while since I read it, but this made me think of The Hound of Rowan.

[[deleted user]]

Henry H. Neff the link for Jessica's suggestion

It's too new though. OP said published before 1986. This is dated 2007.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

The OP, Anna hasn't posted in this thread since 2013 so I'm moving this to Abandoned.

[Rainbowheart]

Now we'll never know. :(

[Kris]

OP (original poster) account is deleted. Moving to "Now we'll never know" folder.