The Magic Half

Eleven-year-old Miriam Gill - Miri for short - is continually the odd one out in her family, excluded by both her twin elder brothers, Robbie and Ray, and by her twin younger sisters, Nell and Nora. When the family move into a rambling old house on Pickering Lane, Miri has no idea that a magical adventure will soon bring her something she has always wanted: a close companion and twin sister of her own. Banished to her room shortly after a disastrous fight with Ray, Miri discovers an odd piece of glass taped to the wall, and gazing through it, is drawn back in time to 1935, where she meets a young girl named Molly, living in the same house on Pickering Lane. Soon discovering that Molly is both unhappy - her adoptive aunt and cousins are show more often unkind to her, treating her like a poor relation - and in danger from her brutish cousin Horst, who is a thief and bully (and potentially worse), Miri is determined to help. When she finds herself unexpectedly in the present once more, she is desperately afraid of what might be happening (or might have already happened) to Molly back in the past. Can Miri find her way back to 1935? And if she does, will she be able to save Molly...?

Chosen as our February selection in The Children's Fiction Book Club to which I belong, The Magic Half is an entertaining time-slip fantasy for middle-grader readers, featuring two appealing but believable young heroines, and an engrossing story that will keep readers involved until the very end. Although it took me a few chapters to become really invested in it, by the latter half of the book I was racing for the end, determined to see how it would all work out. Horst makes for an atypically realistic villain - he is really a very creepy character for a book aimed at this age level, I think - and Molly is just different enough from Miri, in terms of vocabulary and knowledge, that the reader can believe she is from 1935. The time-travel itself is never really explained - save that it was meant to be, because (according to Molly's fairy-like Grandma May) "magic is a way of setting things right" - but the mechanics of the travel, how seeing through each girl's set of glasses takes you into her time, is interesting. I appreciated the scene in which Miri really begins to think about the nature of time, and how different choices could lead events in so many different directions. Although Barrows never uses the term, Miri is clearly struggling towards an understanding of the concept of a multiverse.

All in all, The Magic Half is an engaging time-slip tale, one I would recommend to middle-grade readers with a taste for such stories, as well as to children who feel a little left out in their families, or who long for something magical to happen to them. show less

An almost interesting time travel story about a modern-day, 11-year-old girl transported to the Great Depression where she bonds with a foster child in a hostile household. The plot works well enough, but the characters just seemed insubstantial or one-dimensional, reacting to events without much inner life.

Reread for the Children's Books group discussion.

I agree with those who have said it nicely fills a niche for the younger readers. I'd still be careful about sharing it with sensitive children - Horst was truly scary, because he's all too realistic and not leavened with any ridiculousness or vulnerability.

I have to say, the ending was just exactly what it was supposed to be. The *point* of the book was to do what Grandma May knew they would do, and set things right, make things turn out just this way. Sure, I can see wanting a different ending, but that would be a different book.

I really liked all the little details that made the characters come alive. Her knuckle hurt from all the chewing it had had lately. Miri took an experimental show more bite of her thumbnail. Not so good, but better than nothing."

And about the twin thing - I bet Miri's siblings didn't always feel grateful for being special. Sometimes 'those girls' would want to be each themselves, and to always have new neighbors and teachers fixating on your unique family must be draining. It's going to be interesting for Miri now that she's going to be able to see what her siblings have been going through since birth.

I'm not much for rereading, but this was worth it." show less

Much better than expected. A talented writer (who co-wrote The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society) tells a story about an 11-year old girl. It's fun, has some fantasy, but is well grounded in the reality of the world of pre-teens and their families.

I'm 60 years old, and sometimes kids books are worth reading at any age. This one is.

Middle grade novel with a sprinkling of fantasy by way of time travel. The Magic Half would have been a book my child-self would have definitely picked up, so I gave it a try.

Miri is a singleton in a family where she is bookended by older twin brothers and younger twin sisters. She has a secret wish to be a twin as well.
After the family moves into a new house, she discovers something in her room and experiences time travel to the 1930s and meets Molly.
The resolution wasn't what I was expecting: I wanted more conflict/questioning on the present day timeline.
I have the second in the series Magic in the Mix in hand, so I will see soon if there is more to the story.

Loved this book!!! This will be perfect for those imaginative 2nd and 3rd graders who can read just about everything and who still believe in magic, just a little bit.

Barrows does a nice job of exploring the consequences of time travel in an accessible way. It's complicated but the infinite looping of "if I didn't do that then, then I couldn't do this now" will fascinate kids. The magical resolution is harder to believe than the rest of the book, but I didn't care. The 7 year old in me was just too happy that it all worked out okay.

A cute story about time travel and magic but I'm not sure that I got anything much more than that out of it. A pleasant, leisurely read for kids.