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The next series of articles in this column will explore the use of magic in stories for children, ranging from early chapter books, through middle grade to young adult.
Magic plays a big part in children’s lives as they grow up. Santa Claus is a very familiar figure to millions of children, along with all the magical things associated with the secular side of Christmas each year. This is something many children are sure is real, for a while at least, as is the tooth fairy, an ever present character in the lives of kids when they are younger.
Many children may even be afraid of the dark and fearful of the supposed creatures that may lurk there, including ghosts. They may be reassured repeatedly that ghosts doesn’t exist, but are never entirely convinced and in a strange way, it is indeed much more terrifying to be scared of something you know isn’t real. After all if it can’t be defeated, how can you ever win?
Magic of course appears in so many of the stories that children avidly consume as they grow up. Indeed, the process of reading is itself a kind of magical experience, as children begin their own personal journey of discovery. As I often point out to children during my school visits and workshops, books can be time machines, space ships that whisk you off to another planet or become doorways to other dimensions, all powered by your own limitless imagination.
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