Tag Archives: magic

363H: Magic Mirror Leads to Another World

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I’m hoping that you can help me, I’ve been up for hours googling all the details I can remember about a book that I read and loved in 7th grade. I read this book in 2013 and I believe it was a fairly new book that the time. It may have had a second book in the series but I don’t know for sure.
I recall that the main character was a middle school or perhaps elementary school boy. I think I remember him going into a suspicious shop and noticing something odd about a mirror. Somehow he becomes in possession of this mirror. 
He discovers that the mirror is a portal that he can crawl through to get to another world. In this world I recall a forest, and maybe a fairy-like companion. In this world there is some sort of crisis taking place. I recall several instances of the boy narrowly escaping the mirror after being chased by some kind of monster. I think the boy kept the mirror in his closet. 
I can almost picture the cover of the book too. I can see lots of purple and black, and maybe some swirling style designs around the perimeter. And an illustration of the boy crouching looking into the mirror. 

362W: Princess Escapes Maze, Slays Dragon

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Looking for a fantasy book probably published before 1995, with a female protagonist, some form of princess I think. Early in the book she is caught in some sort of maze and manages to get out with some sort of dimensional (vorpal) sword? But the thing I definitely remember is that in the end she slays a dragon and collects the last drop of its heart’s blood as some sort of magical stone. Thanks!

362K: Mysterious Buckle Leads to School Bus Crash

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I am looking for a YA book about a girl that has a horse with a mysterious silver buckle or medal that she puts on her horse. When she touches the buckle, she can make a wish. One of the wishes she makes causes a school bus crash. The buckle is linked somehow to a dark force that ends up appearing at the end of the book. It’s a pretty dark book. I’m thinking late 1980’s or very early 1990’s.

361T: Jasper the music stealer

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This is a 1970s children’s book featuring a kind of hippie spy/hero who (may have) flown around on a magic cloud and had a base (?) in the Himalayas. He had an enemy called Jasper, who stole (all of the) music.

I heard this as an audio book on a cassette (where I recall a song with the words ‘Jasper, Jasper, where has all the music gone?’)

361H: Children’s book about a magic carpet ride

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I’m trying to remember the title of a children’s book I read in the mid-1960s (which I believe came out around that time, but I can’t be sure). It was about a little boy who rode a magic carpet around the world. He touched down in different countries and would learn a little bit about each place. It was a magical book for me as a child and wish I could remember more details!

361F: Was Magical Prudence Really There At All?

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Looking for a young adult book involving a skinny girl with long dark hair named Prudence who is possibly befriended by main girl character. At first I thought they were sisters but not sure. She might have mysteriously moved in to empty town haunted house. Don’t remember her having mother or if did was absent or witch. Remember big hill and snow with kids being out of school – Prudence might have made it magically snow to get them as friends/stop picking on her. Then think she just up and left one day and it was wondered if she was actually ever there at all. Don’t know if she was school aged/ever went to school

361B: Trilogy With People That Absorb Magic Power (Solved!)

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This is a high fantasy trilogy that I read in the early 90’s where the magic system had a very unique requirement that required a person that was sensitive to magic power, who would dedicate his life not to casting/making magic but only with the ability to absorb the magic power around him like a battery and then was able to give that power to an actual mage that could then use it to make magic.  The mage would be useless without having access to this other person who would feed them magic power.

Also by the third book the magical world gets invaded by a world/reality that has modern technology like tanks and guns.

358P: Originally Reluctant Woman Frees Prince

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I have used several other places, and have had no luck with this one.

It is a high fantasy type of book that takes place entirely in the fantasy world. It definitely seems like the beginning of a series. I vaguely remember it being written by a female Australian author and I believe it was published in the mid-later 1990s or early 2000’s. It was a trade paperback that I checked out from the library. The cover was a simple cover, not a complicated/traditional fantasy one.

It starts with a young woman working in her family’s inn/tavern and then she gets swept up with a prince who later gets imprisoned and who she frees at the end. At the beginning, she has a bad opinion of him, but then she travels to some place where he is getting ready for battle I think and gets to know him better. I believe there is magic based on elemental powers. I remember that she has to work with elemental beings, and they start learning to work together. At the end she ends up going to the castle where the prince is imprisoned and she frees him.

357O: Scandinavian folk tale collection (Solved!)

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I am looking for a book that was a series of short stories or collection of Scandinavian (?) folk tales. It could possibly be classified as young adult but likely for a younger age range (10-14). The usual searches (Norwegian, Swedish, Scandinavian folktales) have not turned up the book, so perhaps it was a collection of general folk/magical themed stories. There were pictures throughout book. They were not in a cartoon style but drawn and I believe one picture showed a cave and/or beach. I only remember these drawings being in black and white. There was at least one story about the sea. The version I had was paperback. Cover art: White background, young girl (face of a young girl). It is was nymph like, or some type of fairy. Very g-rated. There was some green on the cover. It was more modern looking than the usual cover art for Nordic folk tale books, however, an overall flowy feel to the cover. Timing: I received it sometime between 1998-2002. It was likely purchased in Canada at either McNally’s Robinson bookstore or an independent seller.

350M: Boy Trains With Magic Sword

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I’m looking for a book I read sometime between 2005-2011. The cover was mostly blue and had a sword hilt on it I think. In the book a kid from our world somehow goes to another world. In this other world, the people fight with swords that the blade only actually exists if you believe? Little hazy on that part. I remember a scene where the main character loses a foot race to a younger kid from this other world. The people train using the swords by swinging them at giant boulders. The sword blade can heal any wound when pressed against it unless it’s caused by that type of sword. Might have had Christian themes. When in our world the main character was attacked by some sort of invisible monster that can’t be seen. Somebody saved him using one of the magic swords.