Knight's Castle

I checking out Half Magic from the library at school when I was young, maybe seven or eight. I took it home and read it cover to cover that night; I couldn't wait to go back to the library and see what else was on the shelf by this author. I'm not sure if our library had all seven books in the series, but I definitely found Knight's Castle and at least two more of the Eager books—these were my favorite books for many years, and I still feel a sense of delight at rereading them sixty years later.

Knight's Castle is the story of the children of the children in Half Magic, cousins who are unexpectedly and unwillingly thrown together when a parent is hospitalized. The children are given some wonderful toys to occupy themselves during this difficult time, and the favorite toy is quickly found to be an enormous toy castle. One of the children, Roger, has brought his soldiers from home with him, and it is one of the toy soldiers, an old family possession, that first shares magic with the children.

I loved Half Magic and I loved Knight's Castle when I first read them, but rereading them as a grownup is an even richer, more fun experience.