Tag Archives: magic

367I: A Magical Trip

1 Reply

As a fourth grader in 1980, I had a teacher who kept a personal library of paperback books for us children to read when we were finished with all our other work. I read dozens of books in Mrs. Cohn’s classroom.
So assume this book to be anywhere from 1950s-1970s publication, a novel but fairly short. Things I recall:
There were at least two boys on the trip to another world/realm/dimension which they may have accessed via a cave.
Somehow they were equipped with a small wooden box of sausage and cheese. Intending to conserve their rations, they only ate half of each and discovered upon reopening the box that the food had regenerated to the full, original proportion.
They also had a blanket that would cover them both but fold down to pocket handkerchief sized and a “magic” match that could be struck and used again and again and even be stuck in a crevice and (perhaps rotated?) to become bright as a torch.
In one scene they passed a gangrel/beggar/wastrel on the road and as he came toward them he morphed into a well-clad, upright gentleman with a sandwich board or a handbell and advertised some type of ware or service and upon passing, returned to his former low state.

367E: Children’s book, dispute over bag, magical claims but ultimately not magic

Leave a reply

From what I remember of this children’s book, there are people disputing over a small bag and someone asked them to describe what is in the bag to prove ownership. Fantastical claims are made of what’s in the bag, I believe they say animals are even in the bag, things that couldn’t possibly fit in a bag unless it was magic. In the end, the bag is not filled with any of these items. If I remember correctly, it is filled with fruit peels and seeds? Or something similar. I believe it’s set in the Middle East but I can’t fully remember. This is a book I thought about many times over the years since reading in the late 90s as a child but I’m not even sure I remember it correctly. I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

367C: When the Sweets Come Alive

2 Replies

I remember this book from childhood, where on one page there is this bakery where it is either run by a witch or vampire and the treats are alive. Like the devil dog cakes are actual devil dogs with a tail and wings. The lady fingers are actual fingers. It was cute and cartoony and these treats were all in a glass case like a real bakery. It was definitely an elementary book like a beginner book. I must have been reading it in the 1990’s. I can’t recall the overall theme of the book but vividly remember this particular page. I think the overall theme must be fantastical or magical, maybe Halloween but I can’t remember a title or author. Please help me.

367A: “Meddlers”

1 Reply

I seek a book about a young boy who wakes up in a cave, has night vision and can see “Strings” of fate. Race is called Meddlers, and he’s being hunted due to their laws: “It is law that no meddler may create another meddler.” There’s magic, and the man who’s found him lives in a manor, with a butler named Balfour. He came from Earth, and has an “archive” of knowledge (which is really just a computer) since the Earth was dying. The boy goes and tries to save Earth, starting in the past and eventually succeeding.

366U: Fantasy / Swords and Sorcery novel I partially read last year and just can’t remember!

Leave a reply

I never finished it but wanted to but the name has completely slipped my mind. Here’s what I remember:
– A tribe of people, warriors and hunters, living in a frozen North. The main character was mixed race, being partially from a race further up north who were blonde and very Viking like, they were at war I think?
– Main character is exiled on some quest after a previous chief dies and leaves, but his tribe is attacked and scattered. He unites a number of his clan and they fight their way to a settlement.
– Whilst traveling the main character meets a wolf, and shares a Kill with it. The wolf follows him around from then on it saves his life a few times.
– There’s a subplot of one of the clan youngsters making his first kill and escaping after a fight gone wrong.
– The settlement is being attacked by those other northerners and those Northerners have a Sorcerer who has summoned a big monster who’s attacking the settlement but the main character and his crew kill it.
It was very swords and sorcery and its really bugging me that I can’t find it. Any suggestions about what it might be would be terrific!
It’s not Wolf Brother, the main character was an adult. For most of the book the Wolf actually didn’t show up a huge amount. 

366A: Fairy tale I read in the 1970’s

1 Reply

I’m trying to find the name of a book I read when I was a kid, what I can remember of the story is:

A group of friends set off on an adventure. Along the way they find a magic carpet or rug that when rolled out, magically produced a feast. They then came upon a cat that when stroked began to purr and pearls popped out of its mouth. The third magical item the found was a stick or switch that they didn’t know what magical purpose it had.

An unscrupulous inn-keeper saw them using the carpet and the cat and stole them. He didn’t know what the switch did either but figured it must do something. He found that, when he stole it, the magic stick beats dishonest people until they confessed their crime.

That’s all I can recall – if anyone can solve the puzzle and let me know the title and who wrote it, I would be most grateful.

364I: Wizard with prism brings color to gray world 

4 Replies

Description: Likely published in 80s to early 90s. Educational content about prismatic light and rainbow colors. Illustrated story book. I remember it being hard cover, but may have been published both ways.
World is grey and wizard/magician/sorcerer brings prism to introduce light and color to the people. Takes children characters (more than one) on the journey to discover the colors of the rainbow throughout the world which may be better defined as a kingdom. I think there was a king and a castle involved. 
I’ve located a similar book titled The Color Wizard by Barbara Brenner. It is very close to the story line, where there is a magical person painting the colors of the rainbow. In the book I’m searching for there are children and a prism is involved in the story. I don’t remember the magical one inhabiting the castle, but as a visitor. 
Thank you to anyone who is able to contribute to finding this!

363R: Kids Fly A Psychedelic Magic Carpet

1 Reply

I remember this book from my childhood in the 70s. I believe the cover had psychedelic kids art — a magic carpet, with maybe two kids on it, very colorful. It was about two kids (I think) who (ride? are captured? somehow are on a) magic carpet that takes them to (other worlds? Other dimensions?). It was a very weird book and I completely loved it, but have no idea about the title. It definitely had some kind of interdimensional aspect (although I could be confusing this with A Wrinkle In Time, but I think not). Probably published early 70s. 

363L: Christmas-time story, possibly 1960’s

4 Replies

The story is about a boy whose father (parents?) left for a trip, leaving him with the cook/housekeeper. Before the present time, she had won a baking contest when the boy knocked some chocolate chips into her mix and she decided to leave them. After they were alone, he ordered a (real) magic kit from the back of a comic book and when he got it and used the wax to form a figure of the housekeeper and maybe cast some spell to make her very sleepy and she stayed in bed for the rest of the story until the end. He then set about on some adventures including one where he made a willow wand to help him find the perfect Christmas tree, which I believe he cut down and brought into the house. I don’t remember the other adventures but at the end of the book he warmed up the wax to break the spell and some of it melted into the fire and filled the house with smoke, just at the time the father/parents came back from their trip.