Nom de Plume

Now that I’ve read the last Harry Potter, I’ve been scouring the Internet for recommendations on other children’s books, or even well-written fantasy. (I have to confess that I have a prejudice against fantasy because there’s so much really BAD stuff out there, and besides, it conjures up images of strange dungeons and dragons types who carry around their weird dice and dress in robes.)

In any case. I read the first of William Corlett’s The Magician’s House Quartet a couple of years ago. The Seattle Public Library had the second, so I checked it out.

The plot line of the quartet goes something like this: Three siblings join their aunt and uncle in Wales for school holidays because their parents are off somewhere (I can’t remember where, that was in the first book.) There is a magician who lived in the very old house they are in, and who makes himself known to the children because he needs their help. There are animals they talk to; they can even go into their bodies. There’s something about alchemy.

I liked The Door in the Tree, just as I liked The Steps up the Chimney, but I’m having a really hard time summarizing it. Simply put, I read the first book so long ago that I’m having a hard time remembering what happened. The second does not stand well on its own.

In terms of mood, however, it is excellent, setting a similar tone to Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising. The library doesn’t have the second two books, and I don’t think I’m interested enough to seek them out actively. Still, if someone were to drop them in my lap, I would happily read them. And the boxed quartet would make some kid a fine gift.