This is the way magic begins in folktales and fairy tales: Once upon a time, on a day like any other, a boy like you, or a girl like me, found a charm or a beast or a book that changed everything, allowing us see beyond our own lives, into the realm of possibilities. Of course the best magic is when extraordinary things happen to ordinary people, unexpectedly and out of the blue. If you’re lucky, you will be exactly this age when you discover a writer who teaches you about the world, and about literature, and, for those who are the luckiest of all, about magic. I’ve always believed that the books that influence us most are the ones we read at the age of ten or eleven or twelve, the time when we’re most open to imagination and magic, when the world hasn’t yet made us the rational and boring beings most adults grow up to be. Summary: Faced with a dull summer in the city, Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha suddenly find themselves involved in a series of extraordinary adventures after Jane discovers an ordinary-looking coin that seems to grant wishes.

Half magic/Edward Eager illustrated by N. The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Harcourt Children’s Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1954.įor information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.Ĭover illustration © 1999 by Quentin Blake Introduction copyright © 2016 by Alice HoffmanĪll rights reserved.

Half magic the book