I know I read this as a child, but it must have been only once, because so much of it seemed fresh and new to me. Tommy was enthusiastic, especially at first, because he has lately been really into spotting "references" in books and TV shows (this largely brought about by his current fixation with The Simpsons). So it was exciting to him, that the first magical adventure referenced the Oz books, the second Half Magic and the third the Little House books, all of which he's somewhat familiar with. Then he got frustrated, because the chapters stopped being about books so much, and the children never visited the world of The Hobbit, which he'd been desperately hoping for, despite one of the characters suggesting it as a possibility. Later on, we were briefly excited when The 13 Clocks got mentioned. So, Tommy's frustrations aside, I still came away from the book with a certain satisfaction that I do seem to be producing a well-read child (even though he's not reading any of these on his own). A potential reader of this book would certainly do well to be familiar with those books. We actually tried to read Knight's Castle a few months back, but had to give up, because T was confused by and uninterested in all the Ivanhoe references -- something I didn't mind as a child despite not having read Ivanhoe (or seen the movie, as the kids do in that book).Two last observations: 1. The "Barnaby the wanderer" chapter is much more philosophical than anything else of Eager's that I've read. I found myself wondering if there's a lot of Eager himself in Barnaby (full of ideas, aware he's more intelligent than anyone else, kind at heart, but given to defensively using biting sarcasm to make up for his scrawniness and short stature). 2. Eager's chapters are always really, really long. We ended up staying up til 10 (bedtime is supposedly at 9) to finish each chapter several times in our nights of reading this.
I just finished reading the last chapter of this book to my kids at lunch today, and I feel a little bit sad that we're done with the series.I keep looking for more biographical information about Edward Eager (the fact that he was an Ohioan is especially intriguing to me; I kind of collect Ohioans), but there's just not much information out there about him.At any rate, my children and I loved this book. I think I liked The Time Garden a little better, but the chapter in this one where Grannie got her wish almost edged out all of the others. The kids and I read that while curled up together on my bed, and the story of Grannie's courtship (and the fact that that's the moment she chose to revisit) brought tears to my eyes. The other chapters were somewhat less poignant, but they all dealt a great deal with cooperation, personal sacrifice, and the challenges of friendship (and family relationships), which are subjects I like to discuss with my kids.Before we read this series, my daughter only wanted non-magical stories. She liked talking animals (Wilbur and Charlotte, Babe and Fly) and gave special dispensation to the Magic Tree House books because they dealt with history, but she mostly claimed magic was too unrealistic. Eager's books helped her start to enjoy the process of suspending her disbelief and just immersing herself in the story. We've since read Edith Nesbit's The Complete Book of Dragons, and she's now working her way through the Harry Potter series. It's quite a big change for a girl who six months ago turned her nose up at any book that remotely smelled of magic.
What do You think about Seven-Day Magic (1999)?
"The best kind of book," says Barnaby, "is a magic book." Oh, yes, I thought, nodding, of course. I remember reading this book when I was a little ten year old girl. I found Half Magic on the bottom shelf, dusty, almost unread, and felt like I'd discovered a whole new world. Imagine how sad I was to find that there were only two more Edward Eager books in our library, which composed for me the entire extent of my book world! The book was every bit as good to me as a forty-seven year old as it was so many years ago. I'm "Eager" to read more Eager magic.
—Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance
Of all the Edward Eager books, this is probably the one I know least well, the one I don't think I first sat down and read until I was an adult - which means, unfortunately, that it missed out on that golden period where I devoured books as a child, reread them ad nauseam, and now carry them forever with me.Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
—Megan Baxter
I absolutely loved it!!!!How enticing and magical to read the book of life, your own life, and all it's magic!!!I just happened by this book at a friends house. Not familiar with the writer or anything about this book series, or that it even was a series!!Then a month later, another book caught my eye that had a term from this book, one I hadn't run across before: half magic!!!So of course I got it, got home, and sure enough, same author!!! Well then I looked it up and found out a little about it!Can't wait to read all of the books!!Sheida. July 24, 2014
—Sheida Yazhary
