Review - The Magician’s Boy by Susan Cooper (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Children’s
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 112 pages
Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
Release Date: May 9, 2006
ISBN: 978-1416915553
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4.5/5 stars


This is a fun book sprinkled throughout with wonderful drawings about a Magician’s Apprentice. A great book for younger kids to read with their parents or for older kids to read by themselves. The story is cleverly done and even adult fans of fairy tales will find it entertaining.

The magician’s boy is upset because the magician won’t teach him magic. The Magician does however let the boy perform a puppet show for his clients. However when the lead puppet (Saint George) is found to be missing the Magician gets angry and throws the boy into the story book on a quest to find Saint George. The Boy tumbles through a series of fairy tales in his quest.

This book was written in a simple way with words that are easy for younger children to understand. The concept addressed in the book is slightly more advanced but well portrayed in a simple way. I read this with my 5 year old son and he was fascinated with the idea of a character being able to fall into a book.

The concept of falling into a book and having to partake of the story in a real-life way is a fun one. This is made even more clever by how the Boy stumbles upon characters from other fairy tales in his quest to find Saint George. The Boy runs into the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, Jack and his Bean Stalk, and Little Red Riding Hood to name a few.

The story has a fun twist at the end that is unexpected and interesting. In a humorous and fun way the story is about how bravery and hardwork can lead to great reward.

The illustrations throughout are in black and white and are cute and funny. They are cartoonish and made both me and my son laugh out loud.

Overall a fun fantasy story that people of all ages can enjoy. The language and writing level are simple and intended for a young audience. The concept of falling into a book and stumbling through other fairy tales to complete an adventure is a fun one. There is plenty of humor throughout and fabulous drawings as well. Recommened for fans of fairy tales and fantasy; especially younger readers.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (4/5 stars)

We have probably all heard that The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper is being released as a movie in October. This prompted me to dig out this series of books from the basement and re-read the first book. I last read this book when I was somewhere around 11 years of age. After that reading I thought the world of this book.

The book is well-written and very descriptive. It's every child's dream to get swept into an adventure like Will is and to find out you are part of an ancient race that lives to defeat all that is evil. This book is a classic. I think every young adult should read it!

All that being said. I wasn't as impressed with this book on my second read through. I think I have just read too many books. And, while the book was enjoyable, the haphazard way in which Will progresses through his quest kind of bothered me. I also thought that the gathering of all of the signs in one book was a bit much. It just made the retrieval of each sign seem more trivial than it should have been and condensed the adventure down, almost making it too simplistic. Still the book is well-written, the character's are likable, and the struggle details the epic struggle between good and evil.

I can't wait to see how well the movie follows the book.

Here is a link to the book: