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eowyn's review
5.0
I like all of Edward Eager's books and this is one of my favorites. The five children in the book have magical adventures related to books they love and each one is funny, exciting and charming. I particularly liked the Laura Ingalls Wilder-esque chapter w/Granny, and I also liked that the father of 3 of the kids is a singer/actor and this is offered as a viable career for a dad. : ) A good read aloud that Walt and I book liked more than our last one, "Magic or Not."
jguci's review
5.0
I just remember eating lunch while reading this book because I could not put it down. Such a fun time!
rosenectur's review
5.0
I love the Edward Eager YA books. As it says on the back of the book, “All books are magic, but some are more magical than others.” They are innocent, fun, and really make you remember a time when children were children, and didn’t spend their lives connected to a screen. After checking out an old book from the library Susan and her friends find that it’s about them. Only the last few pages are blank, ready to be filled with wishes.
katekat's review
4.0
Edward Eager's books were stories I loved as a child and having re-read them as an adult I still quite enjoy them. The stories and characters hold up to the test of time. These books are clever and intriguing and the characters are very endearing.
corydoesmath's review
3.0
I reread this book with my mom out loud and it was so much fun. If you don't take the book too seriously, it's basically just plain ridiculous, absurd entertainment to see how Edward Eager wanted to bring magic stories to children. If you picked a random sentence from the book, you'd think, "I can't imagine anyone ever having a reason to write that sentence," but if you'd had just been following along for a few pages, it would have made perfect sense. It's kind of how if you spend a few minutes listening to a child explain something - without interrupting them - you can learn a lot.
There's nothing gripping about the plot, nothing to hold on to about the characters. Don't read it for that. Read it for the moments when you're like, "Okay... where is this going?" and then, when the right time comes, you're suddenly laughing because of the admirable delivery of stupidity, absurdity, and wit.
There's nothing gripping about the plot, nothing to hold on to about the characters. Don't read it for that. Read it for the moments when you're like, "Okay... where is this going?" and then, when the right time comes, you're suddenly laughing because of the admirable delivery of stupidity, absurdity, and wit.
kmjkelsi's review against another edition
4.0
I still love Edgar Eager...not least because he's a shameless fan of E. Nesbit and Frank L. Baum, whom I also loved when I was eleven or so. A book about book love, as this one features the five children finding a book that becomes a story about them...and which allows them to have some part in elements of their favorite stories. (Dragons! The wizard of Oz! A blizzard on the prairie!) I seem to remember Knight's Castle doing this insertion a bit better, but it was nonetheless magnificent fun.
elizabetheaton's review against another edition
4.0
Adriana and I both enjoyed this story of bookish magic, although not as much as Half Magic. Five children check out a magic book from the library and slowly uncover the rules of it. The children go off to Oz, meet up with the little girl from the end of Half Magic, and have a Little House on the Prairie sort of adventure. It was nice that Adriana actually has heard all those stories. The language was sometimes a little beyond Adriana, but I think that's good for her, and she does seem to be able to follow the stories regardless. It's basically a fun, whimsical story with just a touch of Eager's morality: it's not too preachy, but there is definitely a bit of a lesson about not using the magic for too much personal gain; it's simply for fun adventures.
kinderny's review against another edition
5.0
Edward Eager was my favorite series writer when I was growing up -this was one of his books that resonated with me the most. Five children are avowed book worms- they go to the library each Saturday to get new (and old favorite) books to check out. One nondescript book, only available as a 7 day loan, is checked out and becomes the doorway to magical adventures for the group. I remember wishing very hard that someday some magical talisman would appear and let me experience my own magical adventures. The joy of this book was that it made me think that this was possible, when I read it and for years to come.