For while I do much appreciate and often read folk and fairy tales (in their place), with The Magic Half, a bit more nuance and character development for the characters beyond the curtain so to speak would in my opinion make the plot more interesting than a standard good-versus-evil reading scenario that could be straight out of my Brothers' Grimm collection. However and that being said, although the storyline of The Magic Half flows mostly smoothly, with graceful emotionality, and while the time-traveling elements are generally successfully, believably conceptualised and presented, both the heroes and villains Miri encounters on the other side, in the 1930s, are a bit too fairy and folktale like for adult reader I (with Molly really being rather too much like an eponymous Cinderella type character in distress, and especially her aunt and male cousin Horst a trifle too one-sidedly monstrous and vile). On a purely emotional and personal level, I really do adore Annie Barrows' The Magic Half and would likely have loved this novel ardently as a child (as indeed, I have always rightfully or wrongfully felt like somewhat of a stranger in and misunderstood by my family and Miri's struggles thus resonate both loudly and clearly). Also, while at the beginning I wasn’t that wowed by the time travel aspect, by the end I decided this book deserves a place on my favorite-time-travel-books shelf. I also wish statistics had been given for the new family configuration the way they were given for the family as first introduced. But toward the end when I knew what was going to happen, I was thrilled, and I loved the ending, though I wish it hadn’t ended so abruptly I wanted more. I don’t love it quite as much as one of my personal favorites, Time At The Top, or the excellent The Root Cellar, or other historical fiction time travel books written for children. It’s a wonderful book for girls who are fascinated with twins, only children, middle birth order children, kids who feel overlooked/not special, kids who enjoy time travel books and history, and magic.

As an only child who wanted a twin sister or at least siblings, it would have been a perfect book for me. It would have received 5 stars from me at that time.

This book would have been a favorite of mine when I was 8 or 9 through 11.

The magic half by annie barrows