Comments on: The Backwards Blog Tour: Eager Readers! http://laurelsnyder.com/2009/06/06/the-backwards-blog-tour-eager-readers/ Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:28:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Donald Jeffries http://laurelsnyder.com/2009/06/06/the-backwards-blog-tour-eager-readers/comment-page-1/#comment-2576 Donald Jeffries Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:52:00 +0000 http://laurelsnyder.com/?p=419#comment-2576 As an author myself ("The Unreals," a sci-fi/fantasy published in 2007), I was inspired as a youngster by many wonderful writers. Some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around reading Edward Eager's magical works. The characters were real and I could relate to them, even though the first two books I read ("Half Magic" and "Magic By The Lake") took place in the 1920s. As a boy, it was refreshing to find female characters that were so interesting (three of the four children in those two stories were girls). Like Laurel, I also find the almost total lack of information about Eager's personal life to be frustrating. It is hard to understand how such a celebrated literary figure, who didn't die until 1964, could leave so few biographical footprints behind him. I also have tried to track down any family members, with just as little success. As an author myself (“The Unreals,” a sci-fi/fantasy published in 2007), I was inspired as a youngster by many wonderful writers. Some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around reading Edward Eager’s magical works. The characters were real and I could relate to them, even though the first two books I read (“Half Magic” and “Magic By The Lake”) took place in the 1920s. As a boy, it was refreshing to find female characters that were so interesting (three of the four children in those two stories were girls).

Like Laurel, I also find the almost total lack of information about Eager’s personal life to be frustrating. It is hard to understand how such a celebrated literary figure, who didn’t die until 1964, could leave so few biographical footprints behind him. I also have tried to track down any family members, with just as little success.

]]> By: Molly MacRae http://laurelsnyder.com/2009/06/06/the-backwards-blog-tour-eager-readers/comment-page-1/#comment-2212 Molly MacRae Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:18:30 +0000 http://laurelsnyder.com/?p=419#comment-2212 I loved Edward Eager from the moment I stumbled across Half Magic, in our tiny school library, and read the first half page sometime back in the mid 60s. It was one of the best and most memorable books I read as a child - ranking right up there with Charlotte's Web, The Wizard of Oz, and The Wind in the Willows. I never forgot the book, but didn't see it again until thirty years later and hundreds of miles away during a boring PTA meeting in my sons' even measlier school library. I turned to look at the bookshelf (to hide my rolling eyes) and there was Half Magic nudging my elbow. I fell in love all over again. It took another ten years, though, and a job in the children's department of yet another library, before I discovered Eager's other books. I've since read them all and recommend them often (and eagerly). In fact, Half Magic is on our list of 110 books every child should know, a list we put together commemorating our 110th anniversary as children's department in a public library. I loved Edward Eager from the moment I stumbled across Half Magic, in our tiny school library, and read the first half page sometime back in the mid 60s. It was one of the best and most memorable books I read as a child – ranking right up there with Charlotte’s Web, The Wizard of Oz, and The Wind in the Willows. I never forgot the book, but didn’t see it again until thirty years later and hundreds of miles away during a boring PTA meeting in my sons’ even measlier school library. I turned to look at the bookshelf (to hide my rolling eyes) and there was Half Magic nudging my elbow. I fell in love all over again. It took another ten years, though, and a job in the children’s department of yet another library, before I discovered Eager’s other books. I’ve since read them all and recommend them often (and eagerly). In fact, Half Magic is on our list of 110 books every child should know, a list we put together commemorating our 110th anniversary as children’s department in a public library.

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