Black and Blue Magic

Snyder delivers another magical summer adventure in this third novel - following upon Season of Ponies and The Velvet Room - which follows the story of young Harry Houdini Marco, who is given the gift of magical wings. Calling himself "Humpty Harry" because of his clumsiness, Harry lives with his mother in the boarding house she runs in San Francisco. Facing a lonely summer because all the neighborhood children have moved away, and longing for a father, Harry finds himself the recipient of a most astonishing gift when Mr. Mazzeeck, a strange man that he helps one day on the bus, comes to stay at the boarding house. Adventure follows adventure in a summer that Harry will never forget...

An entertaining fantasy for intermediate readers, show more Black and Blue Magic explores one of the quintessential childhood fantasies: the ability to fly. Snyder manages to convincingly weave together the fantastic elements of her plot with the more "mundane" family story, and the result is quite satisfying. Although most of Snyder's early novels were illustrated by Alton Raible, Black and Blue Magic was one of the exceptions, with black and white drawings by Gene Holtan. show less

With a clumsy protagonist named "Harry Houdini Marco," you know this is one of Snyder's rare forays into comic storytelling. The results are fun, if not exactly the sort of thing she's best at writing.

The plot is comparable to one of the more humor-driven episodes of "The Twilight Zone" that would have been broadcast just a few years earlier: boy has flaw, boy meets supernatural being, boy gets magical gift, magical gift helps boy overcome flaw. None of it is particularly suspenseful, and nothing in the book will come as much of a surprise; it is, however, very readable. Harry himself is an easy character to like, and Mr. Mazzeeck is a great little guardian angel-style guide. The story only starts to drag once Harry is regularly show more utilizing his magic wings to go on nighttime jaunts; that section becomes repetitive and relies a little too much on the juxtaposition of heroic and humorous incident, which isn't really Snyder's strong suit.

Otherwise, "Black and Blue Magic" is a very pleasant story for pre-teens, perhaps for readers who would find a more "serious" supernatural treatment (as is more typical of Snyder) too frightening. show less

I read and adored Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s Black and Blue Magic as a child nearly 50 years ago, just as I read and adored her The Egypt Game and her The Velvet Room. Rereading at nearly age 60, the tale of clumsy but resourceful Harry Houdini Marco hasn’t aged a bit. Still — dare I say it? — magical all these decades later.

A fun read in sixth grade.

Ex-libris Rebecca Schaffner