Half Magic
Edward Eager
Not quite Edith Nesbit
Alice Hoffman contributed an Introduction to this edition of Edward Eager‘s Half Magic. She makes the following insightful point
Edward Eager... stumbled into the realm of children’s books after discovering the work of the English author E. Nesbit ... For Eager, what made Nesbit great was the way she managed to integrate magic into real life. “For if there is one thing that makes E. Nesbit’s magic books more enchanting than any others, it is not that they are funny, or exciting, or beautifully written, or full of wonderfully alive and endearing children, all of which they are.” It was “the dailiness of the magic” that appealed to Edward Eager. “So after you finish reading one of her stories you feel it could all happen to you, any day now, round any corner.”
Now, I am with Eager in his admiration of Edith Nesbit. I will even go so far as to agree that the way the magic is just a part of the children’s daily lives is a big part of her appeal. And without doubt Half Magic felt very Nesbit-ish to me.
But, not to put too fine a point on it, Half Magic felt to me like a second-rate imitation of Nesbit. Eager recognizes that her books “are funny, or exciting, or beautifully written, or full of wonderfully alive and endearing children.” He recognizes these things only to discount them as less important to the pedestrian nature of the magic.
Sadly, I didn’t perceive those qualities in Half Magic. I will not read any more of Eager’s Tales of Magic.