Parsley Sage, Rosemary & Time by Jane Louise Curry

Milo isn’t really a “regular” kid, and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, and Juster’s Phantom Tollbooth, and others that don’t quite use the format I’m talking about. Books in which kids encounter magic sildalis manufacturer, and have discreet adventures, and learn from them… but the fate of the universe doesn’t having in the balance.Â We’re looking for books without theÂ BIG JOURNEY…įor my part I can think of lots of older books that sort of fit the bill, in different ways.Â Betty McDonald’s wonderful Mrs. I want to make a list of EPISODIC MAGIC books. He’s fighting for his world.Â He is, in a way, more like Susan Cooper’s protagonists, or maybe L’Engle’s.Īnd Charlotte is having trouble making a Common Magic (my term) reading list.Â So I wonder if you people can help me help Charlotte.

Harry Potter, as much as he follows the Nesbit–> Eager trend of humorous, well-written magic books about “regular” kids who find magic… isn’t the same kind of book. This isn’t a question of literary versus commercial, old versus new, or high-fantasy versus low.Â This is a question of EPIC VERSUS EPISODIC. Until reading her blog this morning, I hadn’t thought to put the distinction into such terms, but she’s dead-on. Instead, there are episodes of magic meeting real life, often leading to chaos that is always eventually resolved. In this sort of book, there is no struggle between good and evil, no great epic quest that provides the plot. I have been trying to find other Edward Eager read-alikes– books where ordinary children find magic, and struggle to learn its rules and bend the will of the magic to their own, and get into many strange predicaments in the process.

Her novels include the famous Abaloc series, set in the magical landscape of the Ohio Valley and surrounding regions in contemporary, medieval, and prehistoric times.I’m so thankful to Charlotte, for this post! Jane Louise Curry, born September 24, 1932, in East Liverpool, Ohio, is a prolific author of adventure, fantasy, mystery, time travel, and American Indian tales for older children and teenagers.

Parsley Sage, Rosemary & Time by Jane Louise Curry