All Things Half Magic

I posted the review over at Keep Reading To Your Child but had to mention it here as well.

I'm often asked what books inspired my strong love of fantasy fiction. And while I point to The Chronicles of Narnia most often, the truth is there was a little book found in the recesses of Stow, MA public library that truly started All Things Fantasy.

Half Magic by Edward Eager was published in 1954 and it's rare to see a book in the fantasy genre stand the test of time (yes, yes there's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and others) but a children's book? Narnia, for sure. But not many others after that.

If you have children aged 8 and up, I suggest you pick up Half Magic and immerse yourself into a tale of four bored siblings on summer break who find a magical coin. But as they soon find out, the coin grants them wishes with a catch. They get only HALF of what they wished for.

As a person who struggles with math but not with words, I loved the resulting squabbles when the children try to calculate twice the amount of each wish. If you love magic, time travel and stories where siblings have to overcome their inherent rivalries and work together, pick up this book.

Now go on start thinking about your own wishes. What if you got only half of what you desired??

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