Seven-Day Magic (Tales of Magic) - Hardcover

Edward Eager (1911–1964) worked primarily as a playwright and lyricist. It wasn’t until 1951, while searching for books to read to his young son, Fritz, that he began writing children’s stories. His classic Tales of Magic series started with the best-selling Half Magic, published in 1954. In each of his books he carefully acknowledges his indebtedness to E. Nesbit, whom he considered the best children’s writer of all time—“so that any child who likes my books and doesn’t know hers may be led back to the master of us all.”

It's hard for any book with magic in it not to pale next to the Harry Potter phenomenon. However, Seven- Day Magic can just about stoop to the challenge. Five children discover a mysterious red book at the library and eventually they discover that it's writing the story of their own wishful adventures--a story they make up as they go, and then witness coming to life in the red book's pages. Along their way, the children meet a dragon, a wizard, and the baby and little girl from Half Magic, another Eager book. Another adventure starts when the children are transported back in time with grandmother and nearly perish in a blizzard. Disaster almost strikes again when the friends wish themselves at a television rehearsal and it nearly costs one of their fathers his job on a show. The children return the book to the library and wonder who will find it next. Although written nearly forty years ago, Seven-Day Magic has a timeless feel, even if the adventures seem a bit tame by modern standards. 1999 (orig. ) (Children's Literature)