Trying to remember books I read as a kid.

earlofwess · Post by **earlofwess** » June 13th, 2011, 11:14 am

Hey!

When I was a kid, in the early 1980's, I found a series of kid's fantasy books at the local library. They were thin, oversized paperbacks and there was no continuity between them. They were just different stories of kids encountering magic in the real world. Many of them seem to have been set in the past (earlier in the 20th century) and may actually have been written earlier in the century. I don't even remember if they have the same author.

The only concrete memories I have is that in one some kids meet a man with a magic umbrella, but the unbrella only works when it's raining.

In another, there is a swing in a gazebo and one of the enterances of the gazebo is boarded up. A girl gets on the swing and smashes the boards so that she can go through (it's a magic gateway).

Does anyone have any ideas based on these few details?

Thanks for your attention and help.

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » June 13th, 2011, 12:12 pm

Perhaps The Swing in the Summerhouse by Jane Langton? Looks like it was in a series called the Hall Family Chronicles http://www.amazon.com/Swing-Summerhouse-Hall-Family-Chronicles/dp/0064401243/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_6

I'm not finding a good solid reference to the magic umbrella though...but maybe it appears in one of the other books in that series?

(These books look awesome! I may need to read them this summer!)

wildemoose · Post by **wildemoose** » June 13th, 2011, 12:13 pm

Maybe some of Edward Eager's books? Half Magic is one of my favorite books of all time.

earlofwess · Post by **earlofwess** » June 14th, 2011, 2:38 am

LibriVox rocks!

Thank you so much for your attention and help. The Jane Langton suggestion was right on. I will definitely try to track down these books (although they look very expensive - maybe when I'm back in the States I can get them from the library). As I looked at them, though, I realized that I had conflated two sets of books in my mind. I read them at about the same time and they were very similar. I wondered how I could ever track down the other books, since I had no recollection of their contents.

Then the next post suggested Edgar Eager and my conundrum was solved!

Now my kids are the age when these books will thrill them as well.

Thank you again!