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Magic in the Alley is a sweet, atmospheric children’s fantasy by the author of one of my very favorite children’s books, The House of Thirty Cats. The latter is about a girl who befriends an old lady with thirty cats, and ends up helping her match prospective cat owners with the exact right cat for them. It does a great job of sketching the personalities of a very large cast of cats and people, and, by paying close attention to the details of each passing moment, illuminates their beautiful, near-magical qualities. Calhoun is no Banana Yoshimoto, but she’s clearly interested in some similar emotional territory. The House of Thirty Cats is out of print, but cheap used copies are easy to find.
In Magic in the Alley, Cleery finds a box of magic in a thrift store. Her first wish is to bring a stuffed crow to life; her second is that for the whole summer, every time she walks down a new alley, she’ll find something enchanted. The stuffed crow’s wings don’t work, and his increasingly desperate desire to fly again drives the plot and the moving conclusion. It’s a standard plot, but well-done, imaginative, and psychologically perceptive. The details of the magic are lovely: a tiny but fierce mermaid, a garden where the characters’ love of their favorite season traps them in it, an invisibility cloak that infects the wearer with a sort of playful madness.
Unfortunately, this one is quite rare. I’ve never owned a copy, and had to get it from the library for a re-read.
In Magic in the Alley, Cleery finds a box of magic in a thrift store. Her first wish is to bring a stuffed crow to life; her second is that for the whole summer, every time she walks down a new alley, she’ll find something enchanted. The stuffed crow’s wings don’t work, and his increasingly desperate desire to fly again drives the plot and the moving conclusion. It’s a standard plot, but well-done, imaginative, and psychologically perceptive. The details of the magic are lovely: a tiny but fierce mermaid, a garden where the characters’ love of their favorite season traps them in it, an invisibility cloak that infects the wearer with a sort of playful madness.
Unfortunately, this one is quite rare. I’ve never owned a copy, and had to get it from the library for a re-read.
