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Zusatztext “Lots of fun.” — The New York Times Book Review "This latest book by the inventive and highly literate Mr. Eager is by all odds his best. The characters . . . are so alive they seem to step right out of the pages." —Chicago Tribune Informationen zum Autor 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." Klappentext Book five in the series called "truly magic in a reader's hands" by Jack Gantos, Newbery Medal winner for Dead End in Norvelt. When is magic not magic? Laura is a girl who goes out of her way to find adventure. So when her family moves to a house with a well in the yard?a wishing well, according to Lydia, Laura's opinionated new neighbor?Laura is all too willing to make a wish and see what happens. Plenty happens. Thanks to the well, Laura and her new friends help save Miss Isabella's house from foreclosure, rescue the almost long-lost heir to a fortune, and even solve the mystery of the antique desk. But is the well truly granting wishes? Or is something else responsible for the adventures of that summer? This funny and gentle classic series is an enjoyable read-aloud and also a strong choice for independent reading. For fans of such favorite series as The Penderwicks and The Vanderbeekers. Enjoy all seven of the middle grade novels in Edward Eager's beloved Tales of Magic series! 1 The Wishing Well Laura sat looking out of the window, watching houses and barns and woods wheel slowly by, as the tiny train chugged uphill. If you had seen her sitting there, with her square frame and her square forehead and her square-cut thick dark hair, you would have thought she looked like a solid, dependable girl, and you would have been right, but there was more to Laura than that. Behind the square forehead her thoughts were adventurous. Now she bounced on the seat impatiently. When would they get there? Her brother James came down the aisle and squeezed in next to her. “Seventeen minutes exactly,” he said, looking at his watch and answering her unspoken question. James always knew things exactly. If he didn’t know, he found out. Right now he had been in conference with the conductor. “Seventeen minutes more, and a whole new life will unfold!” gloated Laura. “Oh, James, isn’t it going to be wonderful?” “Wait and see,” said James. He was never one to commit himself. “Oh, James,” said Laura again, in tones of disgust. Neither she nor anyone else had ever called James “Jimmy,” or even “Jim,” but it wasn’t for the reasons you might think. He wasn’t stodgy or prissy or no fun; James was a leader. With his broad shoulders and his steady blue eyes and his firm jaw he looked serious and practical and he was, but that wasn’t all there was to it. Behind the blue eyes his thoughts were deep. “I found out all about it,” he went on. “There’re five stops before we get there. The trains aren’t always dinky little one-car ones like this; in rush hours there’re two cars and sometimes three. They leave every hour on the hour. Here. Have a timetable.” Laura put the timetable in her pocket and stored the information away in her mind. She and James both liked useful facts; you could never tell when they might come in handy, though why, once they were really settled in the country, they would ever want to take a train away from it, Laura couldn’t imagine. To ...
Über den Autor / die Autorin
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."
