Half Magic

Half Magic. By Edward Eager. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publishers, 1999. 208 pages. PB $6.99 ISBN 978-0152020682

Summary: The four Smith children are bored. It’s summer and they’ve already read and reread E. Nesbit’s entire oeuvre. Fortunately Jane, the eldest, saves the day by finding a magic coin on the sidewalk. The children quickly realize that the coin follows precise rules. It will give them only half of what they wish for. Over the summer the children become experts at asking the coin for precisely double the amount desired. However, there is a lifespan of wishes the coin can give to any one child, and with the close of summer, the Smith children’s time with the magic coin is at an end.

Critical Review: In print for over fifty years, Edward Eager’s Half Magic continues to enchant tween readers. Eager’s witty prose sympathetically fulfills children’s need for wonderfully imaginative fiction. The rules that the coin follow are so simplistic, which makes the plot easy to follow and sophisticated at the same time. The four children journey on countless voyages, including King Arthur’s court and the Sahara desert. Ultimately they decide to leave it for another child to find, hopeful that he/she will equally find as much pleasure in the magical token as they did.

Genre: Fantasy

Reading/Interest Level: 8-12 years

Reviews: Publisher’s Weekly (2005, January 3); School Library Journal (1999, August 1)

Series: Eager’s Magic Series

Similar Materials: E. Nesbit’s Psammead Series: The Five Children and It; The Phoenix and the Carpet; The Story of the Amulet; and other tales such as The Enchanted Castle, and The Magic City

Subjects/Themes: brothers and sisters; libraries; single-parent families; marriage; housekeepers

Character Names: Katharine, Mark, Jane, and Martha Smith

Brief Annotation: A summer of magical fun is on offer for the four Smith children, as they find a magical token that provides half of what is asked.