I listened to this book before I read it. It was when my second one was around kindergarten. I borrowed the audio book of "Half Magic" from a local library and listened to the story on the road with my children. Since my second son's English was not good, I wondered if he could understand the story... Soon it turned out this story became his favorite. Whenever he had to ride, he asked to turn on this book. ;) I had to buy the audio CD for sure.

This story about four children who couldn't go anywhere during the long summer vacation because their father died several years ago and their mother should go to work everyday to earn money for their living. The one day Jane, the oldest one, picked up a nickel from a crack in the sidewalk. It was not a just nickel, but a magic coin.

Originally I picked up this book from the library because I was attracted by the title. I questioned "what is half magic? why not 'whole magic'?" to myself... In the story four children could have magic power using the coin but there was a secret to use it. The title mentioned about the secret... Although the story has about "half" magic, this story is wholly fun and my children and I enjoyed to listen to and read again and again..