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Half Magic

240 statements
46 feature instances
4 referencing feature instances

Half Magic	type	TVTItem
Half Magic	label	Half Magic
Half Magic	page	HalfMagic
Half Magic	comment	Half Magic is a children's fantasy novel by Edward Eager, first published in 1954.Siblings Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha are faced with a long, boring summer with nothing to look forward to but library books. Ever since their father died, their mother spends most of her time working to support the family, leaving the children with not a lot of money or opportunity for summer adventures. All that changes when Jane calls dibs on a nickel lying on the sidewalk, triggering a strange series of coincidences. The "nickel" seems to jump between the children, all of whom quickly find themselves caught in inexplicable jams until they finally realize that the nickel is actually a magical charm that grants wishes by halves. It's a simple matter of mathematics to get exactly what you want, so long as you don't do anything rash—which of course, they do. Their wishes leave them stranded in the middle of the desert, wrecking chaos on King Arthur's court, and causing a mass panic when one of the children accidentally becomes half-invisible.But sometimes the charm seems to have a mind of its own...almost as if it's deliberately leading the children, wish by misguided wish, toward their own happy ending.
Half Magic	fetched	2024-02-25T21:35:05Z
Half Magic	parsed	2024-02-25T21:35:06Z
Half Magic	processingComment	Dropped link to WickedStepfather: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Half Magic	processingUnknown	WickedStepfather
Half Magic	isPartOf	DBTropes
Half Magic / int_130436b9	type	Annoying Younger Sibling
Half Magic / int_130436b9	comment	Annoying Younger Sibling: The youngest child Martha has a habit of getting bored and tiring out quickly, which causes her to whine and complain.
Half Magic / int_130436b9	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_130436b9	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_130436b9
Half Magic / int_1777688d	type	Genre Savvy
Half Magic / int_1777688d	comment	Genre Savvy: The kids are well-versed in E. Nesbit and other children's fantasy books, so when magical events start happening to them, they're quick to catch on. For example, they consider wishing for endless wealth, but remember that whenever anyone wishes for that in a story, it always backfires.
Half Magic / int_1777688d	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_1777688d	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_1777688d
Half Magic / int_21579c25	type	Ancient Artifact
Half Magic / int_21579c25	comment	Ancient Artifact: The Arabic trader seems to recognize the symbols on the charm, as does Merlin. Jane's temporary replacement mother believes the writing on the charm is Sanskrit. Whatever it is, it seems to have been around for a long, long time.
Half Magic / int_21579c25	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_21579c25	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_21579c25
Half Magic / int_35e077	type	Fourth-Date Marriage
Half Magic / int_35e077	comment	Fourth-Date Marriage: Mr. Smith proposes to the children's mother after they've only known each other for a week. In their defense, it's an extremely eventful week.
Half Magic / int_35e077	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_35e077	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_35e077
Half Magic / int_3866ab91	type	Deceased Parents Are the Best
Half Magic / int_3866ab91	comment	Deceased Parents Are the Best: While all the other kids are happy to have Mr. Smith for a stepfather, Jane, the eldest child who remembers their father the best, can't quite warm up the idea.
Half Magic / int_3866ab91	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_3866ab91	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_3866ab91
Half Magic / int_3fe2b13f	type	Ungrateful Bastard
Half Magic / int_3fe2b13f	comment	Ungrateful Bastard: Downplayed with Lancelot. He does thanks the children for rescuing him but is rather dubious about being saved by magic and has them restore the knights so he can have a proper fight.
Half Magic / int_3fe2b13f	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_3fe2b13f	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_3fe2b13f
Half Magic / int_3fe6a857	type	Public Domain Character
Half Magic / int_3fe6a857	comment	Public Domain Character: Characters from Arthurian Legend.
Half Magic / int_3fe6a857	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_3fe6a857	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_3fe6a857
Half Magic / int_43175028	type	Compressed Hair
Half Magic / int_43175028	comment	Compressed Hair: Katharine whips off her helmet after defeating one of King Arthur's knights, with her long brown hair revealing that she is female... and also nine years old.
Half Magic / int_43175028	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_43175028	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_43175028
Half Magic / int_45bc787c	type	Mundane Wish
Half Magic / int_45bc787c	comment	Mundane Wish: The kids offer their mother a wish on the charm and, when she declines, Katharine wishes on their mother's behalf that all her wishes will come true (twice). The result: the mother's love interest is now clean-shaven, and he and she get a brief romantic moment with bells and the smell of flowers.
Half Magic / int_45bc787c	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_45bc787c	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_45bc787c
Half Magic / int_45d74260	type	Speech-Impaired Animal
Half Magic / int_45d74260	comment	Speech-Impaired Animal: Carrie The Cat, who can temporarily half-talk thanks to an ill-considered wish.
Half Magic / int_45d74260	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_45d74260	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_45d74260
Half Magic / int_47d35854	type	Intergenerational Friendship
Half Magic / int_47d35854	comment	Intergenerational Friendship: Mr. Smith turns out to be one of those rare adults who truly understands children, and the siblings befriend him even before they find out he's going to be their new stepfather.
Half Magic / int_47d35854	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_47d35854	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_47d35854
Half Magic / int_509769e7	type	Numerological Motif
Half Magic / int_509769e7	comment	Numerological Motif: The charm requires the user to wish for twice as much as they want, which gets difficult when you must figure out how to be twice as much as half-visible.
Half Magic / int_509769e7	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_509769e7	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_509769e7
Half Magic / int_532a8261	type	Bookworm
Half Magic / int_532a8261	comment	Bookworm: All the children are this, and the book opens as they're returning from their latest trip to the library.
Half Magic / int_532a8261	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_532a8261	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_532a8261
Half Magic / int_581f6468	type	Hero of Another Story
Half Magic / int_581f6468	comment	Hero of Another Story: The Arabian trader owned the charm before the children and apparently lost it at some point. The little girl and her infant sibling who inherit the charm at the end.
Half Magic / int_581f6468	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_581f6468	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_581f6468
Half Magic / int_5d0dd7b3	type	Wasteful Wishing
Half Magic / int_5d0dd7b3	comment	Wasteful Wishing: Once they realize the charm is magic and figure out how it works, the characters avert this, being careful not to make too many wishes because they don't know how many they'll get.
Half Magic / int_5d0dd7b3	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_5d0dd7b3	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_5d0dd7b3
Half Magic / int_5f505b82	type	I Was Beaten by a Girl
Half Magic / int_5f505b82	comment	I Was Beaten by a Girl: Katharine wishes to beat Sir Lancelot in a joust, and then has to unwish it when Lancelot is mocked by the other knights who taunt him with that very phrase ("Lancelot's a churl! Beaten by a girl!"). Though in this case it's more that she wished to be five times better than Sir Lancelot at fighting without also wishing to not be, to all appearances, an untrained child.
Half Magic / int_5f505b82	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_5f505b82	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_5f505b82
Half Magic / int_5f930b19	type	Named After Somebody Famous
Half Magic / int_5f930b19	comment	Named After Somebody Famous: The family cat Carrie is named after Carrie Chapman Catt, a women's suffrage leader whose name Martha saw in a newspaper.
Half Magic / int_5f930b19	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_5f930b19	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_5f930b19
Half Magic / int_618dc1ea	type	Parent with New Paramour
Half Magic / int_618dc1ea	comment	Parent with New Paramour: The kids introduce their mother to the new paramour, and are mostly quite happy with the whole situation — except that they think it'd be strange to call him "father", so he gets declared an Honorary Uncle.
Half Magic / int_618dc1ea	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_618dc1ea	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_618dc1ea
Half Magic / int_62434fe2	type	Sanity Slippage
Half Magic / int_62434fe2	comment	Sanity Slippage: The kids think they've been covering their tracks from their mother. In reality, they've been covering just enough of their tracks to make her think she's losing her mind, a fact that crops up at an awkward moment.
Half Magic / int_62434fe2	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_62434fe2	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_62434fe2
Half Magic / int_6627695f	type	Author Appeal
Half Magic / int_6627695f	comment	Author Appeal: The novel is set in Eager's childhood home Toledo, Ohio, and contains numerous references to author E. Nesbit, whose children's books inspired Eager to write his own.
Half Magic / int_6627695f	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_6627695f	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_6627695f
Half Magic / int_66835c91	type	The One Guy
Half Magic / int_66835c91	comment	The One Guy: Mark is the only boy in his household.
Half Magic / int_66835c91	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_66835c91	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_66835c91
Half Magic / int_6edc54d5	type	Here We Go Again!
Half Magic / int_6edc54d5	comment	Here We Go Again!: When their turn is over, the children leave the charm on the sidewalk where they found it, where it's picked up by a young girl. Before they leave, the girl has vanished on her own magical adventure.
Half Magic / int_6edc54d5	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_6edc54d5	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_6edc54d5
Half Magic / int_76dc4f31	type	"Arabian Nights" Days
Half Magic / int_76dc4f31	comment	"Arabian Nights" Days: Where the children are transported when Mark wishes to go to a desert island. They get the desert half, but not the island.
Half Magic / int_76dc4f31	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_76dc4f31	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_76dc4f31
Half Magic / int_7f95e396	type
Half Magic / int_7f95e396	comment	"Reading Is Cool" Aesop: There's a suspicious lot of literacy in this book: the children are all bookworms who think library day is the best day of the week, their mother works at a newspaper, Mr. Smith runs a bookshop, many of their adventures are based on whatever the kids have been reading that week (Mark, for example, has been reading Robinson Crusoe and wishes them to a desert island), and there's a lot of random literary quotes and allusions that most young readers won't catch until they're several years older.
Half Magic / int_7f95e396	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_7f95e396	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_7f95e396
Half Magic / int_82518cf7	type	Motor Mouth
Half Magic / int_82518cf7	comment	Motor Mouth: An attempt to reverse the wish that Carrie the cat could talk results in her being silent half the time, and this the other half.
Half Magic / int_82518cf7	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_82518cf7	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_82518cf7
Half Magic / int_83a30cd3	type	Middle Child Syndrome
Half Magic / int_83a30cd3	comment	Middle Child Syndrome: Katharine complains that Jane is the eldest, Martha is the baby, and Mark has his own status as the only boy, leaving her stranded in the middle.
Half Magic / int_83a30cd3	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_83a30cd3	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_83a30cd3
Half Magic / int_84c5ec0b	type	Free-Range Children
Half Magic / int_84c5ec0b	comment	Free-Range Children: It's the 1920s, they have a mother who works, and it's the safest, most boring town in the world, so the children have free run of the neighborhood and are allowed to take the bus downtown by themselves.
Half Magic / int_84c5ec0b	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_84c5ec0b	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_84c5ec0b
Half Magic / int_8b6394c	type	These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know
Half Magic / int_8b6394c	comment	These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Invoked. While the children are planning how to get the most out of their magic charm, some of the potential wishes are world peace and infinite knowledge. These are vetoed because they sound a bit too much like playing God. After causing chaos in Camelot, Merlin makes a wish on the charm to prevent it from being used to travel beyond its own place and time, both to protect the children and to keep them from wreaking havoc on history.
Half Magic / int_8b6394c	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_8b6394c	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_8b6394c
Half Magic / int_8b682bd5	type	The Magic Comes Back
Half Magic / int_8b682bd5	comment	The Magic Comes Back: After it seems the charm's used up its last wish, it relents and grants one more: Jane senses her father reassuring her that it's okay to love her new stepfather. The children secretly pass the charm on to another child, causing it to spring back to life.
Half Magic / int_8b682bd5	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_8b682bd5	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_8b682bd5
Half Magic / int_9591377d	type	Heel Realization
Half Magic / int_9591377d	comment	Heel Realization: Katherine has a nasty one after beating Sir Lancelot and realizing she just wanted to get back at him out of spite.
Half Magic / int_9591377d	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_9591377d	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_9591377d
Half Magic / int_a2836be5	type	Identity Amnesia
Half Magic / int_a2836be5	comment	Identity Amnesia: Jane wishes to belong to a different family and promptly forgets her real family, as well as her own name.
Half Magic / int_a2836be5	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_a2836be5	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_a2836be5
Half Magic / int_a8217606	type	Sweet Polly Oliver
Half Magic / int_a8217606	comment	Sweet Polly Oliver: Katharine at the tournament at Camelot.
Half Magic / int_a8217606	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_a8217606	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_a8217606
Half Magic / int_b06bbf4b	type	Be Careful What You Wish For
Half Magic / int_b06bbf4b	comment	Be Careful What You Wish For: Jane, angry at her siblings, starts to announce that she wishes she wasn't part of their family, remembers she's touching the charm... and turns it into a deliberate wish. Within a few moments of joining the family the wish makes her part of, she regrets it.
Half Magic / int_b06bbf4b	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_b06bbf4b	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_b06bbf4b
Half Magic / int_bec0417c	type	Happily Married
Half Magic / int_bec0417c	comment	Happily Married: When the children find out the charm previously belonged to the Arabian trader, Mark uses it to give him "twice as much of whatever he would wish for with it." That turns out to be younger, healthier camels, new harnesses for said camels, valuable goods for trading, a loving wife, and six children. While the wedding doesn't happen in the book, the children's mother's final wish is to be happily married to Mr. Smith, who is only too glad to grant it.
Half Magic / int_bec0417c	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_bec0417c	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_bec0417c
Half Magic / int_bee8ff88	type	Born of Magic
Half Magic / int_bee8ff88	comment	Born of Magic: The children find out that Achmed once had the charm but lost it for many years. To make things right, Mark makes a wish on it to give him whatever he would desire most, which turns out to include six children of his own (and a wife).
Half Magic / int_bee8ff88	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_bee8ff88	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_bee8ff88
Half Magic / int_c867e57	type	TheRoaringTwenties
Half Magic / int_c867e57	comment	The Roaring '20s: Half Magic is set in 1924, though the year doesn't have a lot to do with the plot save for a short scene at the movies where Martha, who's too young to read, complains that none of her siblings will read the intertitle cards for her.
Half Magic / int_c867e57	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_c867e57	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_c867e57
Half Magic / int_cb70651c	type	Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
Half Magic / int_cb70651c	comment	Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The charm's final wish.
Half Magic / int_cb70651c	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_cb70651c	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_cb70651c
Half Magic / int_cf4d770	type	Nightmare Fuel
Half Magic / int_cf4d770	comment	Nightmare Fuel: Invoked in universe when Jane realizes that Martha has just wished herself half-gone. She gets a horrible mental image of her sister bisected at the waist and wonders which gruesome half will be left when she checks. Subverted when she finally looks; Martha is all there, just fogged-out and ghostly. The Green, Red, and Black Knights who capture Lancelot end up hacking one another to bits in a quarrel. There's a moment when Katharine wishes them alive again, and the children are greatly amused watching the various pieces of different-colored knights reassemble themselves.
Half Magic / int_cf4d770	featureApplicability	-0.3
Half Magic / int_cf4d770	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_cf4d770
Half Magic / int_d29e9f65	type	Nature Versus Nurture
Half Magic / int_d29e9f65	comment	Nature Versus Nurture: Invoked by name when Jane wishes to be part of some other family. While she now belongs to a different family with a different upbringing, she's still Jane, and her innermost self rebels.
Half Magic / int_d29e9f65	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_d29e9f65	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_d29e9f65
Half Magic / int_d6f544aa	type	Struggling Single Mother
Half Magic / int_d6f544aa	comment	Struggling Single Mother: The children's mother really resents her low-paying, underappreciated job and wishes she could spend more time with her children.
Half Magic / int_d6f544aa	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_d6f544aa	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_d6f544aa
Half Magic / int_dcd423d2	type	Affectionate Nickname
Half Magic / int_dcd423d2	comment	Affectionate Nickname: Mr. Smith invites the children to call him by his first name of Hugo. They reject this and nickname him "Hugh." Jane's nickname from her new family is "Little Comfort," which makes her siblings gag. Mark sometimes calls his eldest sister "Janice" (or "Jane-ice") as an term of endearment.
Half Magic / int_dcd423d2	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_dcd423d2	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_dcd423d2
Half Magic / int_e1ec1b15	type	Make a Wish
Half Magic / int_e1ec1b15	comment	Make a Wish: Later in the book it becomes deliberate, although the granting of the first few wishes is a complete surprise.
Half Magic / int_e1ec1b15	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_e1ec1b15	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_e1ec1b15
Half Magic / int_e83f211c	type	O.O.C. Is Serious Business
Half Magic / int_e83f211c	comment	O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Happens twice. After a wish goes horribly wrong, the children go through a brief stage where they want to avoid magic at all costs. They spend the day playing card games and ask their mother to read them a dull, mundane children's book where nothing at all supernatural happens, rather than a fairy tale. Later that night, their mom creeps into bedrooms to check temperatures to make sure they're feeling okay. After wishing herself into a different family for a day, Jane becomes so sweet-tempered and patient with her siblings and so helpful around the house that their mother is instantly suspicious.
Half Magic / int_e83f211c	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_e83f211c	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_e83f211c
Half Magic / int_f8600b	type	Cool Big Sis
Half Magic / int_f8600b	comment	Cool Big Sis: Jane, while sometimes bossy and stubborn, is usually genuinely nice to her siblings.
Half Magic / int_f8600b	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_f8600b	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_f8600b
Half Magic / int_feb72f62	type	Literal Genie
Half Magic / int_feb72f62	comment	Literal Genie: Other than cutting wishes in half, the charm works this way. For example, Katharine wishes to beat Lancelot in a joust, but at first it's a Curb-Stomp Battle in the other direction, because she didn't wish to know how to joust or to be good at it.
Half Magic / int_feb72f62	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_feb72f62	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_feb72f62
Half Magic / int_name	type	ItemName
Half Magic / int_name	comment
Half Magic / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Half Magic / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Half Magic	hasFeature	Half Magic / int_name
Half Magic / int_name	itemName	Half Magic

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Half Magic	hasFeature	Children's Literature / int_e910c9cd
Half Magic	hasFeature	Make a Wish / int_e910c9cd
Half Magic	hasFeature	Middle Child Syndrome / int_e910c9cd
Half Magic	hasFeature	Wicked Stepmother / int_e910c9cd

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