Magic By The Lake by Edward Eager, N. M. Bodecker (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Further adventures of Mark, Katherine, Jane, and Martha, who find their source of magic in a lake near which they are spending the summer.

Children's Literature

"Be careful what you wish for" is an appropriate cliché for this story of four siblings who are vacationing near a lake full of magic. Jane, Mark, Katherine, and Martha spend the summer trying to tame the lake's magic with the help of a cranky old turtle, and find themselves swimming with mermaids and escaping from pirates. The children finally decide to use their magic to help someone close to them. Told with wit and humor, this story is lighter and less thought provoking than Tuck Everlasting, but is based on a similar theme of having too much of a good thing. One note of caution: originally published in 1957, one chapter finds Martha on an island with natives who are cannibals and speak an abbreviated form of English ("smallum, girlum, fattum," etc.) This portrays a negative stereotype that young readers (or parents and teachers) may find offensive. 1999 (orig.

Children's Literature

This re-release of a forty-year-old fantasy brings Eager's imaginative time travel tale to a new audience. The magical thyme garden transports two sets of sibling cousins to far away places and real and mythical eras. Escorted by the toadlike Natterjack, the children visit Salem; Elizabethan England; a cannibal island; and the March's home in Concord, Massachusetts. The adventures seem surprisingly fresh and are less politically incorrect than expected, having originated in the fifties. The Bodecker illustrations retain their original charm, and are supplemented with cover art by Quentin Blake. A delightful diversion for adults to revisit with their favorite young reader.

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Table of Contents