John Masefield (1878–1967)

This certainly has the same absurd, surreal, magical dream-logic of The Midnight Folk, an acceptance of the strange and the impossible and the hugely unlikely at face value with little in the way of astonishment or disbelief. If anything this is a bit more grounded than Folk with an unfolding plot and an evil scheme, as the villainous Abner Brown chases the Box of Delights which allows people to move around in time. The old Punch And Judy Man gives the box to Kay and Kay must use it to show more rescue the Punch And Judy man as well as assorted cousins and a entire cathedral full of clergy being picked off and hidden in caves by Brown and his men in the mistaken belief that one of them has the Box, and all just before the Christmas service, too. Nonetheless, Kay moves coolly and with only rare signs of distress through various strange and wonderful and occasionally terrifying encounters with an aplomb that is downright hilarious. A deeply old-fashioned, arguably antiquated, children's story that takes its logic from deeper stories still until at the final line when even the author seems to give up trying to make sense of it. That ending should be more annoying than it is, and if I'd read it when younger I might have gotten pretty cross about it, but as it is it just left me shaking my head in amazement. show less

An amazing dream of a book that unfolds with surreal logic as cats talk, witches fly, foxes plot against gamekeepers, model ships sail away with a water-rat captains and a hundred other odd and wonderful things, while Kay tries to discover the fate of his great-grandfather's lost treasure. The voices and the language are as magical as the various miraculous and mysterious occurrences. It utterly refuses to make any sense of things or offer explanations or justifications. It's pretty much its show more own justification, that's what. show less

I'm being a little silly in characterizing this book as interstitial or magical realism, but it does seem to fit it best. Like Alice in Wonderland, it depicts fluid physical laws. Unlike Alice, it draws no really meaningful lines between the world where the rules apply and that where they do not. The magical happenings that befall Kay Harker partake both of the logic of the dream world and the concerns of the waking one.

Kay is a young boy living in his familial country house, but overseen show more by unrelated and seemingly uncaring adults. He begins to find out the world is stranger than he had thought when he begins to dig into the mystery surrounding his great-grandfather, a sea captain who lost or stole a great treasure. The other characters include cats Blackmalkin and Graymalkin, otters, foxes, witches.... show less

Strange things begin to happen the minute young Kay Harker boards the train to go home for Christmas and finds himself under observation by two very shifty-looking characters. Arriving at his destination, the boy is immediately accosted by a bright-eyed old man with a mysterious message: "The wolves are running." Soon danger is everywhere, as a gang of criminals headed by the notorious wizard Abner Brown and his witch wife Sylvia Daisy Pouncer gets to work. What does Abner Brown want? The show more magic box that the old man has entrusted to Kay, which allows him to travel freely not only in space but in time, too. The gang will stop at nothing to carry out their plan, even kidnapping Kay's friend, the tough little Maria Jones, and threatening to cancel Christmas celebrations altogether. But with the help of his allies, including an intrepid mouse, a squadron of Roman soldiers, the legendary Herne the Hunter, and the inventor of the Box of Delights himself, Kay just may be able rescue his friend, foil Abner Brown's plot, and save Christmas, too. show less