Written by: Edward Eager
First line: It was Martha who saw the lake first.
Why you should read this book: It's a sequel to the delightful Half Magic, in which the children inadvertently order an entire lake full of magic, really too much magic for them to handle. Although this time around they have the privilege of setting their own magical rules, they immediately and willfully set about to breaking the rules, digging themselves into deeper and deeper difficulties with their own selfish behaviors. Eventually, though, they start to pay attention to reality and turn their magical intentions to helping someone else.
Why you shouldn't read this book: It simply isn't as entertaining as the first, lacking the cohesive logic of the original plot, which turned on the children figuring out the rules of magic and cleaning up their own mistakes. Also, this book, as an unfortunate product of its day, relies heavily in places on racist stereotypes; I originally intended to donate it to the children's library where I volunteer, but these dated and xenophobic ideals don't really belong in a modern library.
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