** spoiler alert ** 
 I've recently begun re-reading Edward Eager's series of juvenile fantasy books for the first time since elementary school, and have come to the conclusion that they are every bit as good as C. S. Lewis's Narnia books. I've now read five out of seven (all except The Well-Wishers and Seven Day Magic), and just this minute finished Magic or Not?, which I think may be my favourite of the series so far. This surprised me, since -- as the title suggests -- the magical element of the plot is a lot more ambiguous. I was prepared for it to be drier than the previous books, but it was anything but dry. 
 Children read books about other children having magical adventures all the time, and every child wishes he or she could have magical adventures of their own. Who hasn't wanted to go to Hogwarts or have a wish granted? But every child eventually comes to the realisation that magic is a thing that belongs in stories, and not in real life at all. 
 The message Magic or Not? offers is that this does not have to be the case, and magic is there to be found by those who look hard enough and are willing to believe. In the end, the children work out that all the wishes that have been granted *could* have been brought about by human means, but the series of coincidences and improbabilities required seem far too unlikely to believe it was anything but magic. 
 If you believe that every person deserves our good will, and that any day can be an adventure if you look at it right, this may be a book for you.