Edward Eager
Encyclopedia
Edward McMaken Eager was an American
lyricist
, playwright
, and author
of books for children
. Eager's works for children were distinctive in their use of the theme of magic
making an appearance in the lives of ordinary children - what would now be classed as contemporary fantasy
. .
, Ohio
and attended Harvard University
class of 1935 http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~secfas/prize_descriptions.htm#E. After graduation, he moved to New York City where he lived for 14 years before moving to Connecticut http://www.neenahlibrary.org/Kids/litnewsletter/1206-2litnews.pdf. He married Jane Eberly in 1938 http://www.bookrags.com/biography/edward-mcmaken-eager-dlb/2.html and they had a son Fritz http://www.neenahlibrary.org/Kids/litnewsletter/1206-2litnews.pdf. Eager was a childhood fan of L. Frank Baum
's Oz series, and started writing children's books when he could not find stories he wanted to read to his own young son. In his books, Eager often acknowledges his debt to E. Nesbit
, whom he thought of as the best children's author of all time. A well-known lyricist and playwright, Eager died on October 23, 1964 in Stamford Connecticut http://blog.moonshadowecommerce.com/WEBLOG-NAME/Featured_Author/2008/11/edward_eager.html at the age of fifty-three.
Village Barber, The : "An Operetta" with book and lyrics by Edward Eager. Music by Johann Schenk. Produced by The Columbia Theater Associates of Columbia University at Brander Matthews Hall (NYC - 1942) starring Philip Duey, Wallace House, Edith Campbell, Jan Lindermann, etc. Directed by Milton Smith.http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/belknap/ufplaybills5.htm
Pudding Full of Plums (1943)http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1935/12/6/john-barnard-39-takes-lead-in/
Sing Out, Sweet Land! (1944), "a salute to American folk and popular music". With Elie Siegmeister
, he wrote three new numbers for the show.
Dream With Music (1944), a "musical fantasy" in which a soap opera
writer dreams that she is Scheherazade
in old Baghdad, where her real life acquaintances turn up as Aladdin, the Sultan, etc. Wrote lyrics to music from Schubert, Beethoven, Saint-Saens, Weber, Chopin, Wagner, Haydn and Foster as culled by Clay Warnick. Balanchine choreographed.http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1427
Beachcomber Club Revue of 1946, Books & Lyrics by Edward Eager; Music by John Frederick Coots (1946)http://iii.library.unt.edu:81/search~S0?/aEager,+Edward./aeager+edward/-3,-1,0,B/frameset&FF=aeager+edward&3,,6
The Liar, New Musical Comedy, Lyrics by Edward Eager; Music by John Mundy and Edward Eager (1950)http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=2146
The Gambler Book written with Alfred Drake
(1952)http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=2340
To Hell With Orpheus : "Comic Opera" with book and lyrics by Edward Eager (Adapted by Ring Lardner
). Music by Jacques Offenbach
(Adapted by Sylvan Levin). Produced at St. John Terrell's Music Circus (Lambertville, NJ - No date) starring Jo Sullivan (Wife of Frank Loesser), Morley Meredith, Peggy O' Hara, Lulu Bates, etc. Directed by Robert C. Jarvis. Choreographed by Rex Cooper. Songs include: "Vacation", "You Can't Do That in Idlewild", "To Be or Not To Be", "The Story of My Life", "Brunswick, Maine", "The Hades Galop", etc.http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/belknap/ufplaybills5.htm
NBC's The Adventures of Marco Polo,
April 14, 1956
Music: Clay Warnick & Mel Pahl
Lyrics: Edward Eager
Book: William Friedberg & Neil Simon
Cast: Alfred Drake
, Doretta Morrow
Those who originally led Broadway
's Kismet
starred in Polo, with the score contrived around themes by Rimsky-Korsakov
. The story was lightly suggested by the actual exploits of the guy who opened China
to the West. This production did well, and Columbia
released an LP of the score.
CBS Radio Workshop, May 4, 1956 The Toledo War (An Operatic Parlor Piece) Libretto by Edward Eager, Music by David Brookman (From credits on mp3 recording of episode.)
NBC's Holiday,
June 9, 1956,
Music: loosely adapted from Johann Strauss
Lyrics: Edward Eager
Cast: Doretta Morrow, Keith Andes, Kitty Carlisle, Bambi Lynn, Tammy Grimes
, George S. Irving, Jaques D'Amboise
Loosely organized around Elmer Rice
's play The Grand Tour, the story told of a New England
schoolteacher who fell for embezzling banker during a trip to Europe
. In the end of the musical she uses family monies to cover his misdoings, an odd resolution even by the looser standards of modern ethics.
Miranda and the Dark Young Man Music by Elie Siegmeister, Libretto by Edward Eager (1957)http://books.google.com/books?id=mGo2ewp1GvIC&pg=RA1-PA202&lpg=RA1-PA202&dq=%22miranda+and+the+dark+young+man%22&source=bl&ots=aTlgt8kBct&sig=ULDoXDA1_j4-nlGDV5g7NiQB7GQ&hl=en&ei=pd95S6fNCJPwsQOS4o29Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22miranda%20and%20the%20dark%20young%20man%22&f=false
Dr. Willy Nilly with Pembroke Davenport (1959)http://www.faqs.org/copyright/punch-and-judy-a-tragical-comedy-or-a-comical-tragedy-opera/#id8407871
Gentlemen, Be Seated! Libretto by Edward Eager, music by Jerome Moross
(1963?) Produced for New York City Opera, 1963 with Dick Shawn
and Alice Ghostley
http://www.faqs.org/copyright/have-you-seen-the-white-lily-grow-no-2-from-the-hour-glass/#id8638777
NBC Opera Theater, mentioned in various places as ongoing, Lyricist, 1950–1963
Call it Virtue based on play by Luigi Pirandello
, translated and adapted by Edward Eager. (1963) http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=4232
Rugantino lyric translation by Edward Eager (1964)http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=2816
Magic Series
Collection of all seven Magic stories:
Articles
Half Magic was the #1 seller in America. Anthony Boucher
, comparing the novel to Nesbit
, described it as "gay and charming, yet rigidly governed fantasy in the Unknown manner."
Half Magic and Magic by the Lake take place in the 1920s, earlier than Eager's other novels.
. (Half Magic includes a reference to a short story by Saki
.) Knight's Castle won Ohioana Book Award for Juvenile Literature in 1957.http://www.ohioana.org/awards/past/bajuvenilepast.asp
Although all of Eager's other novels for children depict what are clearly adventures in supernatural magic, Magic or Not and its sequel The Well-Wishers are different in tone from his other books, because all of the "magical" events in these two novels are described ambiguously, with clues to permit possible non-supernatural explanations.
Seven-Day Magic is Eager's only stand-alone novel; it is the only one which features children who do not appear in at least one other of his books. It does, refer to Half Magic by name, and has a chapter where the children visit the very end of Half Magic and what might have happened afterwards. It was his last book.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of books for children
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
. Eager's works for children were distinctive in their use of the theme of magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
making an appearance in the lives of ordinary children - what would now be classed as contemporary fantasy
Contemporary fantasy
Contemporary fantasy, also known as modern fantasy or indigenous fantasy, is a sub-genre of fantasy, set in the present day. It is perhaps most popular for its sub-genre, urban fantasy.-Definition and overview:...
. .
Biography
Eager was born in and grew up in ToledoToledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and attended Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
class of 1935 http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~secfas/prize_descriptions.htm#E. After graduation, he moved to New York City where he lived for 14 years before moving to Connecticut http://www.neenahlibrary.org/Kids/litnewsletter/1206-2litnews.pdf. He married Jane Eberly in 1938 http://www.bookrags.com/biography/edward-mcmaken-eager-dlb/2.html and they had a son Fritz http://www.neenahlibrary.org/Kids/litnewsletter/1206-2litnews.pdf. Eager was a childhood fan of L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
's Oz series, and started writing children's books when he could not find stories he wanted to read to his own young son. In his books, Eager often acknowledges his debt to E. Nesbit
E. Nesbit
Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television...
, whom he thought of as the best children's author of all time. A well-known lyricist and playwright, Eager died on October 23, 1964 in Stamford Connecticut http://blog.moonshadowecommerce.com/WEBLOG-NAME/Featured_Author/2008/11/edward_eager.html at the age of fifty-three.
Theatrical works
List may be incompleteVillage Barber, The : "An Operetta" with book and lyrics by Edward Eager. Music by Johann Schenk. Produced by The Columbia Theater Associates of Columbia University at Brander Matthews Hall (NYC - 1942) starring Philip Duey, Wallace House, Edith Campbell, Jan Lindermann, etc. Directed by Milton Smith.http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/belknap/ufplaybills5.htm
Pudding Full of Plums (1943)http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1935/12/6/john-barnard-39-takes-lead-in/
Sing Out, Sweet Land! (1944), "a salute to American folk and popular music". With Elie Siegmeister
Elie Siegmeister
Elie Siegmeister was an American composer, educator and author.His varied musical output showed his concern with the development of an authentic American musical vocabulary...
, he wrote three new numbers for the show.
Dream With Music (1944), a "musical fantasy" in which a soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
writer dreams that she is Scheherazade
Scheherazade
Scheherazade , sometimes Scheherazadea, Persian transliteration Shahrazad or Shahrzād is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights.-Narration :...
in old Baghdad, where her real life acquaintances turn up as Aladdin, the Sultan, etc. Wrote lyrics to music from Schubert, Beethoven, Saint-Saens, Weber, Chopin, Wagner, Haydn and Foster as culled by Clay Warnick. Balanchine choreographed.http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1427
Beachcomber Club Revue of 1946, Books & Lyrics by Edward Eager; Music by John Frederick Coots (1946)http://iii.library.unt.edu:81/search~S0?/aEager,+Edward./aeager+edward/-3,-1,0,B/frameset&FF=aeager+edward&3,,6
The Liar, New Musical Comedy, Lyrics by Edward Eager; Music by John Mundy and Edward Eager (1950)http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=2146
The Gambler Book written with Alfred Drake
Alfred Drake
Alfred Drake was an American actor and singer.-Biography:Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while still a student at Brooklyn College...
(1952)http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=2340
To Hell With Orpheus : "Comic Opera" with book and lyrics by Edward Eager (Adapted by Ring Lardner
Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
). Music by Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
(Adapted by Sylvan Levin). Produced at St. John Terrell's Music Circus (Lambertville, NJ - No date) starring Jo Sullivan (Wife of Frank Loesser), Morley Meredith, Peggy O' Hara, Lulu Bates, etc. Directed by Robert C. Jarvis. Choreographed by Rex Cooper. Songs include: "Vacation", "You Can't Do That in Idlewild", "To Be or Not To Be", "The Story of My Life", "Brunswick, Maine", "The Hades Galop", etc.http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/belknap/ufplaybills5.htm
NBC's The Adventures of Marco Polo,
April 14, 1956
Music: Clay Warnick & Mel Pahl
Lyrics: Edward Eager
Book: William Friedberg & Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
Cast: Alfred Drake
Alfred Drake
Alfred Drake was an American actor and singer.-Biography:Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while still a student at Brooklyn College...
, Doretta Morrow
Those who originally led Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
's Kismet
Kismet (musical)
Kismet is a musical with lyrics and musical adaptation by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Alexander Borodin, and a book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, based on Kismet, the 1911 play by Edward Knoblock...
starred in Polo, with the score contrived around themes by Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
. The story was lightly suggested by the actual exploits of the guy who opened China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to the West. This production did well, and Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
released an LP of the score.
CBS Radio Workshop, May 4, 1956 The Toledo War (An Operatic Parlor Piece) Libretto by Edward Eager, Music by David Brookman (From credits on mp3 recording of episode.)
NBC's Holiday,
June 9, 1956,
Music: loosely adapted from Johann Strauss
Lyrics: Edward Eager
Cast: Doretta Morrow, Keith Andes, Kitty Carlisle, Bambi Lynn, Tammy Grimes
Tammy Grimes
-Early life:Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard , a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended high school at the then-all girls school, Beaver Country Day School, in Chestnut Hill,...
, George S. Irving, Jaques D'Amboise
Loosely organized around Elmer Rice
Elmer Rice
Elmer Rice was an American playwright. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1929 play, Street Scene.-Early years:...
's play The Grand Tour, the story told of a New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
schoolteacher who fell for embezzling banker during a trip to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In the end of the musical she uses family monies to cover his misdoings, an odd resolution even by the looser standards of modern ethics.
Miranda and the Dark Young Man Music by Elie Siegmeister, Libretto by Edward Eager (1957)http://books.google.com/books?id=mGo2ewp1GvIC&pg=RA1-PA202&lpg=RA1-PA202&dq=%22miranda+and+the+dark+young+man%22&source=bl&ots=aTlgt8kBct&sig=ULDoXDA1_j4-nlGDV5g7NiQB7GQ&hl=en&ei=pd95S6fNCJPwsQOS4o29Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22miranda%20and%20the%20dark%20young%20man%22&f=false
Dr. Willy Nilly with Pembroke Davenport (1959)http://www.faqs.org/copyright/punch-and-judy-a-tragical-comedy-or-a-comical-tragedy-opera/#id8407871
Gentlemen, Be Seated! Libretto by Edward Eager, music by Jerome Moross
Jerome Moross
Jerome Moross was an American-born composer for the stage, and a composer, conductor and orchestrator for motion pictures.-Biography:...
(1963?) Produced for New York City Opera, 1963 with Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn was an American actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Shawn was born as Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York. He played Sylvester Marcus, son of Mrs. Marcus , in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Lorenzo St...
and Alice Ghostley
Alice Ghostley
Alice Margaret Ghostley was an American actress. She was best known for her roles as housekeeper Esmeralda on Bewitched, as Cousin Alice on Mayberry R.F.D., and as Bernice Clifton on Designing Women, for which she received an Emmy Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1992...
http://www.faqs.org/copyright/have-you-seen-the-white-lily-grow-no-2-from-the-hour-glass/#id8638777
NBC Opera Theater, mentioned in various places as ongoing, Lyricist, 1950–1963
Call it Virtue based on play by Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
, translated and adapted by Edward Eager. (1963) http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=4232
Rugantino lyric translation by Edward Eager (1964)http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=2816
Literature
Individual Novels:- Red Head (1951)
- Mouse Manor (1952)
- Playing Possum (1955)
Magic Series
- Half Magic (1954)
- Knight's Castle (1956)
- Magic By the Lake (1957)
- The Time Garden (1958)
- Magic Or Not? (1959)
- The Well-Wishers (1960)
- Seven-Day Magic (1962)
Collection of all seven Magic stories:
- Edward Eager's Tales of Magic (omnibus) (2000)
Articles
- Eager, Edward. "Daily Magic." Horn Book, October 1958, p. 348-358 http://eager.hearts-n-stars.net/eager.htm
- Eager, Edward. "A Father's Minority Report." Horn Book, March 1948, 74, 104-109. http://eager.hearts-n-stars.net/eager.htm
Mouse Manor
Mouse Manor, illustrated by Beryl Bailey-Jones, is told from the viewpoint of Miss Myrtilla the mouse, sole occupant of the manor which she has inherited from her mother. She keeps house faithfully, dusting the family portraits and baking a bag pudding for her solitary Christmas dinner.http://www.bookrags.com/biography/edward-mcmaken-eager-dlb/3.htmlHalf Magic
A dull summer is improved when Katharine, Mark, Jane and Martha find a coin-like talisman. The catch is that the talisman only grants half of any wish made upon it—a wish to be on a desert island sends them to the Sahara desert, and their mother ends up halfway home when she wishes to return home during a dull visit to her relatives—which causes considerable confusion until the children learn to circumvent this by doubling their wishes.Half Magic was the #1 seller in America. Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
, comparing the novel to Nesbit
E. Nesbit
Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television...
, described it as "gay and charming, yet rigidly governed fantasy in the Unknown manner."
Magic by the Lake
Here are the further adventures of Martha, Jane, Mark, and Katharine from Half-Magic. Their summer vacation is enlivened by an entire magic lake, channelled through a talking, and somewhat grumpy, box turtle. They are stranded on a desert island, visit Ali-Baba's cave, and end up rescued by some children we see in the next book.Half Magic and Magic by the Lake take place in the 1920s, earlier than Eager's other novels.
Knight's Castle
Martha's children, Roger and Ann, and their Aunt Katharine's children, Eliza and Jack, find that the combination of a toy castle, Scott's Ivanhoe, and a little magic can build another wonderful series of adventures. A running theme in Eager's novels is his many references to the novels of E. Nesbit; Knight's Castle pays explicit tribute to Nesbit's The Magic City, and also makes an explicit reference to the cartoons of Charles AddamsCharles Addams
Charles "Chas" Samuel Addams was an American cartoonist known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters...
. (Half Magic includes a reference to a short story by Saki
Saki
Hector Hugh Munro , better known by the pen name Saki, and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy...
.) Knight's Castle won Ohioana Book Award for Juvenile Literature in 1957.http://www.ohioana.org/awards/past/bajuvenilepast.asp
The Time Garden
Eliza, Jack, Roger, and Ann find an herb garden where thyme grows, which lets them travel through time (until the thyme is ripe). On one adventure they rescue their Aunt Jane, Uncle Mark and their mothers from an adventure they took as children. This gives an alternate view of one of the adventures in Magic by the Lake.Magic or Not?
Laura, James, and their wonderful new neighbors, Kip and Lydia, wish up some summer adventures when the well in their new yard is more than they imagined.Although all of Eager's other novels for children depict what are clearly adventures in supernatural magic, Magic or Not and its sequel The Well-Wishers are different in tone from his other books, because all of the "magical" events in these two novels are described ambiguously, with clues to permit possible non-supernatural explanations.
The Well-Wishers
The children return to the magic well from Magic or Not for another unpredictable series of adventures which might (or might not) be genuine magic.Seven-Day Magic
Barnaby, John, Susan, Abbie and Fredericka check out a tattered book from the library for seven days. Oddly, it carefully and correctly records every word they say. Soon they find that it not only records events, but creates new magical adventures.Seven-Day Magic is Eager's only stand-alone novel; it is the only one which features children who do not appear in at least one other of his books. It does, refer to Half Magic by name, and has a chapter where the children visit the very end of Half Magic and what might have happened afterwards. It was his last book.