Shadow Castle

A very charming, not very important book, definitely for kids, written in what I think of as "Enid Blyton Non-Descript." It is a series of linked stories about a fairy family (and their romantic interactions with mortals) with an uninteresting framing device of a young girl being talked to. Short, brisk, easy to read, well-suited to bedtimes, nice (not "nice" as in "okay, decent" but "nice" as in kind-hearted), but nothing to take the literary world by storm or demand you rush out and buy it.

Undemanding fare perfect for when you're under the weather and want something to read during the soup course.

Oh I would have loved this when I was nine, the age of the young girl hearing this set of stories.

A thousand years and seven days.
A vegetarian dragon.
Robin, who is respectful of servants and expects his intended to be kind to them.
Meira, half mortal and half fairy, and Julian, who tells her she mustn't feel split between two halves, but feel like she's a third kind of person altogether.
... and more...
And of course the titular shadows.

If I were to knock off a star it would be for the insta-love... but then that's what fairy tales were. Oh, and an unfortunate btw reference to 'primitive Indians' that could be edited if a parent were to read this to the children (or could, of course, be discussed).

The library copy I read was sent by a show more city library in Hannibal MO and is a 45 cent paperback from 1963, and has been apparently been enjoyed several dozens of times by the patrons. :) show less

This is still one of my favorite books. Lucy finds a secret tunnel in the woods that leads to a mysterious castle where only a man (Michael), a dog, and several shadows live. Michael relates the castle's magical history in a series of stories involving the affairs of fairies, half fairies, humans, and goblins- and how Michael himself is involved. The illustrations are beautiful.

What a wonderful read for the imaginative child I was! The Scholastic paperback edition I read (and still have) was printed in a dark green ink that added to the specialness of the reading experience. I must have read this fantasy half a dozen times before I got to high school. And I've read it a couple times as an adult, and it hold up for me! (I did read the expanded version, but I think Marian Cockrell's editors were right to make the cuts they did.) Find a copy for your favorite 8 to 12 year old!

This is the first fantasy that I remember reading. I was probably 10 or so. I always remembered it fondly and saved my copy for many years for my someday children. Well I read it to my boys and they loved it too. It may not have been quite as magical as it was all those years ago but it stood up well to an adult read, especially as I was reading it out loud to my sons.