• Age: 7 to 10
• Grade: 2 to 5

If the old toy soldier hadn't come to life, Roger would never have discovered the magic.
     And thatwould never have happened if he and his sister, Ann, hadn't been sent to stay with their bossy cousins for the summer. Andthatwouldn't have happened at all if their father hadn't gotten sick and gone into the hospital.
     But all of thatdidhappen, and now Roger, his sister, and their cousins find themselves in a bygone world of chivalry and knighthood, of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe. In this knightly realm they can make a difference—and perhaps even save the person they most need to save—if only they are smart and brave enough, if only they are true to their hearts.

Edward Eager's profile page

N.M. Bodecker's profile page

Edward Eager(1911-1964) worked primarily as a playwright and lyricist. It wasn't until 1951, while searching for books to read to his young son, Fritz, that he began writing children's stories. His classic Tales of Magic series started with the best-selling Half Magic, published in 1954. In each of his books he carefully acknowledges his indebtedness to E. Nesbit, whom he considered the best children's writer of all time-so that any child who likes my books and doesn't know hers may be led back to the master of us all."
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"A delicious spoof."  —Saturday Review

"A priceless mixture of old and new. . . . May even lure readers who thought they were beyond the fairy-tale age."  —New York Herald Tribune Books