Magic by the Book

by Nina Bernstein

Neither Anne nor Emily remembered choosing the book at the library, but when as they read it, the boundary between their world and the one described in the book disappears. Suddenly they are in Sherwood Forest, where they join Robin Hood's band. The further adventures that await Anne, Emily, and their brother, Will, are the kind they had always dreamed about. They had yearned for magic as strong as the spell cast by the stories they loved best. But...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374347182
• ISBN13: 9780374347185
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 227 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

Magically captivating

Though this is a book for older young readers, we have been reading it to our 6 year old nightly. The language is vivid and rich and a pleasure to read aloud. We happened to see this book showcased at our local library and deffo plan to purchase! This is a wonderful book that shows the promise of the magic of reading and using one's imagination to create the world being read from the page. Splendid! Cheers! Andie

A simple library book brings three kids to explore magic in the printed word

Nina Bernstein's Magic By The Book is more than just a tribute to books and a powerful fantasy: it will remind readers of a more modern version of the classic Edward Eager 'magic' books which so thrilled a generation. Can a book cast a spell and make its readers travel through time? A simple library book brings three kids to explore magic in the printed word.

Amazing Everything

"Magic by the Book" does indeed have ""amazing everything." Story line, plot, characters, dialogue, even though a FEW people would say that this is simply a shadow of E. Eager it is certantly not. I love all fantasy, "The Mists of Avolon" (amazing) "Eragon" (outstanding) C.S. Lewis (classic), Tolkien (more realistic than history class) etc. and now when I look at my list of my favorite books "Magic by the Book" is the newest entry. Yes, i think that Edward Eager (Classic auther, amazing) would certainly be proud! ~Laura Werle

Utterly charming

"Magic By The Book" is utterly charming, especially for young people who are avid readers. The Thornton children's adventures derive from books they love; anyone who has been swept up in the magic of a good tale or the wonder of a great picture book will appreciate the joy Anne, Emily and Will feel when they fall into the pages of a mysterious library book and find themselves participating in what they'd just been reading about. Bernstein pays homage to Nesbit and Eager without being derivative. The book has a lightness and freshness of its own, compassion for its characters, and a strong sense of time and place: Whitestone, Queens, in the 1960s. For this baby boomer, who grew up in a bookish, academic family, Anne's adolescent pangs and the details of family life in that era, especially the parents' cocktail party at the end of the story, rang clear and true.

Enchantments for all Ages!

"Magic By the Book" is one of the most engaging, lucidly written, and altogether delightful yarns -- of any variety -- I've encountered in years. The story of the Thornton children's adventures with their mysterious library tome brought me back so vividly to my own childhood, and to that sense of possibility when opening the pages of a new book, that I felt like a ten-year-old all over again! For any adult who wants to recapture that sense of possibility, and for any child discovering it for the first, second, or hundredth time, this book is not to be missed!