The Well-Wishers
core novel 1960 Tales of Magic
Record
| First published | 1960 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.01 (2,170 ratings, collected 2026-10-06) |
| Page count | 220 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780152020712 |
| Internal chronology | 6 |
Synopsis
The wishing well of Magic or Not? is all used up, its magic drained, its enchantment gone dry, or so it seems, until in a reckless moment Gordy threatens the old well, telling it to get going with its magic or else, and that appears to do the trick. Suddenly Laura, Lydia, James and Kip, who feared their autumn would unfold without magic, together with Gordy and Deborah, are plunged into just the sort of outlandish adventures they had longed for, and this time each of the children takes a turn telling the story. But is it really the well's magic that transforms the troublemaker Dicky LeBaron from ne'er-do-well to hero, or keeps Mr. Appledore's orchard, and his love life, in bloom, or sends James on a doubly daring rescue of a damsel in distress? Sometimes the best kind of magic is the kind that is not so magical at all.
Where it sits
- Universe: Tales of Magic
- Series: Tales of Magic core; position 6 of 7 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Edward Eager
Notes
- From the series record (Tales of Magic): Edward Eager's seven novels of magic breaking into the lives of ordinary American children, written in open homage to E. Nesbit: two linked pairs (Half Magic and Magic by the Lake; Knight's Castle and The Time Garden, whose children are the first pair's children and cousins), two about a possibly magic wishing well, and Seven-Day Magic, in which the children meet characters from the earlier books.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Tales of Magic: position 6 of 7: previous Magic or Not? (1959) · next Seven-Day Magic (1962)
Sources
← Tales of Magic dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.