Well-Wishers

The wishing well is all used up, its magic drained, its enchantment gone dry. Or has it? In a reckless moment, Gordy threatens the old well, telling it to get going with its magic or else! and that seems to do the trick. Suddenly Laura, Lydia, James, and Kip-who feared their autumn would unfold without magic-are plunged into just the sort of outlandish adventures they'd longed for. But is it really the well's magic that transforms troublemaker Dicky LeBaron from ne'er-do-well to hero? Or keeps Appledore's orchard-and love life-in bloom? Or sends James on a doubly daring rescue of a damsel in distress? What does it matter? Sometimes the best kind of magic is the kind that isn't so magical at all. . . AGE: 7-10 AUTHOR: 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." b/w illustrations