The Magic Books

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Norton wrote at least six books with titles ending in "Magic" and having very young protagonists; this omnibus edition collects the first three of those six: FUR MAGIC, STEEL MAGIC, and OCTAGON MAGIC. (Those omitted were the later books: DRAGON MAGIC, LAVENDER-GREEN MAGIC, and RED HART MAGIC.) All have some similarities: the kids are in a strange environment (usually a new permanent home), away from familiar older relatives, and have some problem: phobias, grief, homesickness, or feelings of alienation. While exploring, the kids stumble across a magic artifact/gateway that sends them into another world (usually the past, sometimes a parallel world), and experience adventures that help them come to terms with the troubles of their ordinary lives. (In cases where more than one kid is involved, usually they split up early on and have separate adventures.) That said, while the general structure of each story is somewhat similar, the feel of each story differs according to the personality and problems of the protagonists as well as the details of the various historical/otherworldly scenarios. FUR MAGIC (1965) Cory Alder has been uprooted to spend at least a summer with his foster uncle in Idaho (his father having shipped out to Vietnam) and is learning that bragging about a Nez Perce foster uncle who raises horses for rodeos is a long way from living up to such a macho standard yourself. He begins developing a fear of large animals, but receives drastic therapy for it after accidentally interfering with a medicine bundle watched over by a traditional-minded elder. To set things right, Cory is sent on a vision quest, and experiences the world 'before it turned over' - living not as a human, but as an animal spirit in the body of a giant beaver, acting as a scout in the midst of a war. STEEL MAGIC (1967, a.k.a. GRAY MAGIC) The picnic basket and cutlery won by Sara at the Strawberry Festival at first were just a good excuse for her and her brothers to have a picnic while exploring the half-wild estate where they're spending the summer with their uncle. They find more than they bargained for - a gate into Faerie, where a picnic basket packed with ordinary food and steel cutlery is worth far more than any fairy gold. Each sibling must confront his or her fears on a quest to help the people of Avalon retrieve various stolen magical objects: Sara, her fear of insects as she searches for a magic ring in a wood guarded by giant spiders; Greg, his fear of the dark as he seeks to retrieve Excalibur from the Witch of the Mountains; Eric, his fear of water as he searches for an enchanted horn on an island reachable only by sea. OCTAGON MAGIC (1968) Lorrie Mallard (like the girl in RED HART MAGIC some years later) has had to move to a new home with an unfamiliar aunt due to her grandmother's failing health. Her new environment is strange in almost every way: Maryland rather than Canada; having a working woman, inexperienced wit