[ home page ]
[ channel4 ]
[ writers
toolkit ] [ authors ]
[ secret
places ] [ talking animals ] [
small people ]
If you dream of having magical powers and strange adventures, these are the books for you!
Charmed Life by Dianna Wynne Jones
Gwendolen wreaks havoc at Chrestomanci Castle!
Magic causes mayhem in the most unexpected places!
Review
After their mother and father are killed in a car crash, Gwendolen
Chant and her younger brother Cat are sent to stay with the great
wizard Chrestomanci. Here, Gwendolen is determined to demonstrate
her magical powers and to learn the greatest magic of all. With its
towers and turrets, Chrestomanci Castle is certainly most
impressive, but Gwendolen finds that her magic is not as
well-received as she'd hoped. With flying bread and marmalade, and
self-tipping jugs of hot chocolate, even a magical breakfast has
its downside. Why is Chrestomanci stopping Gwendolen from showing
off her powers? And is it really Gwendolen who has them? (9+)
Secret Passage
By a stroke of good fortune, Chrestomanci was coming along the
gallery on the other side of the staircase, behind a curly marble
balustrade. He was wearing a fawn-coloured suit now, instead of the
imperial dressing gown, but he looked, if possible, even more
elegant. By the look on his face, his thoughts were miles away.
Gwendolen ran round the head of the marble staircase and stood
herself in front of him. Chrestomanci blinked, and looked vaguely
from her to Cat. "Was one of you wanting me?" "Yes. Me," said
Gwendolen. "Mr Saunders won't give me witchcraft lessons, and I
want you to tell him he must." "Oh, but I can't do that,"
Chrestomanci said absentmindedly. "Sorry and so on."
From 'Charmed Life' by Dianna Wynne Jones. Text copyright ©
Dianna Wynne Jones 1977.
Published by Collins 2000.
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin
Village boy Ged becomes the wizard Sparrowhawk!
Dark forces are unleashed that only Ged can conquer!
Review
The first book of the trilogy of Earthsea tells the story of the
wild boy Duny, whose magical powers mark him out as a potential
young wizard. Renamed Ged, he travels to the School on the Island
of Roke, where he will train to become a wizard. Here, alongside
other similar boys, Ged learns of the Deeds of Heroes and the Lays
of Wisdom; he masters the arts of winds and weather by sailing in
Roke Bay; and studies the ways and properties of the things that
grow under the Master Herbal. It is clear that Ged has exceptional
talents in wizardry, and his schoolboy training prepares him for a
great future as the trilogy unfolds. (11+)
Secret Passage
On the day the boy was thirteen years old, a day in the early
splendour of autumn while still the bright leaves are on the trees,
Ogion returned to the village from his rovings over Gont Mountain,
and the ceremony of Passage was held. The witch took from the boy
his name Duny, the name his mother had given him as a baby.
Nameless and naked he walked into the cold springs of the Ar where
it rises among rocks under the high cliffs. As he entered the water
clouds crossed the sun's face and great shadows slid and mingled
over the water of the pool about him. He crossed to the far bank,
shuddering with cold but walking slow and erect as he should
through that icy, living water. As he came to the bank Ogion,
waiting, reached out his hand and clasping the boy's arm whispered
to him his true name: Ged.
From 'A Wizard of Earthsea' by Ursula Le Guin. Text copyright
© the Inter-vivos Trust for the Le Guin children 1968.
Published in Puffin Books 1971
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis
Children find a magical world through the wardrobe!
Can Narnia be saved from the White Witch?
Review
Playing hide and seek in their uncle's house, Susan, Peter, Edmund
and Lucy step through the back of the wardrobe and are transported
to the wintery landscape of Narnia. Here, the White Witch rules
through fear, turning her enemies to stone, and when Edmund falls
under her powerful spell, the others need help to release him. As
the adventure unfolds, the children become caught up in the power
struggle between the White Witch and the mighty Aslan. Siding with
the great lion and his followers, the children help to defeat evil
and restore spring to Narnia. (9+)
Secret Passage
On the sledge, driving the reindeer, sat a fat dwarf who would have
been about three feet high if he had been standing. He was dressed
in polar bear's fur and on his head he wore a red hood with a long
gold tassel hanging down from its point; his huge beard covered his
knees and served him instead of a rug. But behind him, on a much
higher seat in the middle of the sledge sat a very different person
- a great lady, taller than any woman that Edmund had ever seen.
She also was covered in white fur up to her throat and held a long
straight golden wand in her right hand and wore a golden crown on
her head. Her face was white - not merely pale, but white like snow
or paper or icing-sugar, except for her very red mouth. It was a
beautiful face in other respects, but proud and cold and
stern.
From 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' by C. S. Lewis. Text
copyright © C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd 1950.
Published by Collins 2000
The Sword in the Stone by T.H White
A new tutor brings magic to medieval schoolwork!
Will the Wart pull the sword from the stone?
Review
The Wart - so called because it rhymes with his real name, Art - is
taken in by Sir Ector and his family. Not much is expected of him,
and not much is planned for him, and he grows up in the shadow of
Sir Ector's son, Kay, learning the skills that will be useful in
the medieval court. But the arrival of a new tutor changes
everything. Although he doesn't look like much, Merlyn has the most
amazing powers - and he knows the future. Wart soon discovers that
he has a very important part to play! (9+)
Secret Passage
The old gentleman that the Wart saw was a singular spectacle. He
was dressed in a flowing gown with fur tippets which had the signs
of the zodiac embroidered all over it, together with various
cabalistic signs, as of triangles with eyes in them, queer crosses,
leaves of trees, bones and birds and animals and a planetarium
whose stars shone like bits of looking glass with the sun on them.
He had a pointed hat like a dunce's cap, or like the headgear worn
by ladies of that time, except that the ladies were expected to
have a bit of veil floating from the top of it. He also had a wand
of lignum vitae, which he had laid down in the grass beside him,
and a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles like those of King Pellinore.
They were extraordinary spectacles, being without earpieces, but
shaped rather like scissors or the antennae of the tarantula
wasp.
From 'The Sword in the Stone' by T. H. White. Text copyright ©
T H White 1938.
Published as a Collins Modern Classic 1998
The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
Mildred turns the teacher's pet into a pig!
Miss Cackle's Academy comes under attack!
Review
Mildred Hubble just gets deeper and deeper into trouble at Miss
Cackle's Academy for Witches. From the moment of her arrival,
things seem to go wrong. Maybe she isn't cut out to be witch? Her
spells backfire, her broomstick won't fly, even her cat is peculiar
- tabby, rather than the regulation black. Thankfully, her best
friend always sticks by her. And things do get better, especially
when Mildred saves the school by turning Miss Cackle's sister into
a snail. So perhaps she can be a good witch, after all. (7+)
Secret Passage
Riding a broomstick was no easy matter, as I have mentioned before.
First, you ordered the stick to hover, and it hovered lengthways
above the ground. Then you sat on it, gave it a sharp tap, and away
you flew. Once in the air you could make the stick do almost
anything by saying, 'Right! Left! Stop! Down a bit!' and so on. The
difficult part was balancing, for if you leaned a little too far to
one side you could easily overbalance, in which case you would
either fall off or find yourself hanging upside-down and then you'd
have to hold on with your skirt over your head until a friend came
to your rescue.
From 'The Worst Witch' by Jill Murphy. Text copyright © Jill
Murphy 1974.
Published in Puffin Books 1978.
