THE MAGIC HALF
by Annie Barrows
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Hardcover: 9781599901329
Paperback: 9781599903583
Ages 8-12
224 pages

Eleven-year-old Miriam (Miri) Gill is different. As a middle child in a family with two sets of twins --- Ray and Robbie, Nell and Nora --- Miri feels left out. When her family moves into a new place out in the valley, on land that used to be a working farm, Miri misses her old friends. But at least she’s happy to have a room of her own --- until she sees her bedroom.

Miri’s room is in what used to be the attic; the steps leading up to it are small and narrow, and the windows are weird-looking. But worst of all, the wallpaper is ugly. Her mother has promised to replace the wallpaper, with its dark purple stripes and vines with orange leaves, with something prettier. In her attic bedroom with the dreadful wallpaper, Miri finds herself even more apart from the rest of her family.

To amuse herself, Miri spends time in front of the pink-tinted bathroom mirror pretending to be a “Wolf Princess” and arguing with her twin brothers. One day she gets into a fight with Robbie and Ray. When Robbie trips her, she breaks her glasses. To retaliate, she hits Ray over the head with a shovel and is sent to her room, where she finds a piece of glass taped to the wall.

The glass appears to be a lens from an old pair of glasses. When she lifts the lens to peer through it, her journey through time begins. Miri is standing in her bedroom, but it has changed. The wallpaper is different, and she is staring into the face of a girl who looks vaguely familiar. The girl tells Miri that her name is Molly Gardner and the year is 1935. Miri remembers from history class that America was in the midst of the Great Depression in 1935. After seeing how bleak life was back then, Miri wants to help Molly.

Molly informs Miri that her Grandma May, who is dying, told her that someone would come for her. She believes that Miri is a fairy who has arrived to rescue her from her cruel and greedy Aunt Flo and mean cousin Horst. Molly also tells Miri that Sissy, her other cousin, isn’t so bad. After seeing how sad and lonely Molly’s life is, Miri realizes that her rotten brothers aren’t so rotten after all. Miri wants to go home. She hopes to rescue Molly, too, but she needs to figure out a way they both can travel through time --- to go back from 1935 to the 21st century.

THE MAGIC HALF by Annie Barrows is an uplifting story about feeling different, believing that anything is possible and cherishing a loving family.

    --- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt (dvolkenannt@charter.net)

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