Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Edward Eager's Half Magic, the first of Eager's seven books of magical adventures. Four bored siblings living in a Midwestern city in the 1920s find a magic amulet...except it only grants half of what you wish for. We talk about what has and hasn't held up in the six decades since Half Magic was published, about Eager's life, and about the real (and extremely inappropriate) silent movie they go to.
Mentioned on this episode:
Barbara, the inappropriate movie, reviewed in Motion Picture World . (The critic didn't like it any more than the children did.)
Edward Eager's biggest hit song, "Good-bye, John."
Deborah's magical time travel books:
George Washington and the Magic Hat
John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead
Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat
You can find Debby's author interviews on her blog Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb and Mary Grace's adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.
This episode was produced by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.
Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com