bedknobs and broomsticks bonfires and broomsticks

This set in 1947 two years later Paul is now 8ys old and for some strange reason forgotten his adventures with Miss Price I found very silly that he forget something like that, but idea was so author could remind the reader of book one. Both are early middle-grade level reading. It’s definitely worth checking out if you liked the first book, and the pair is available on Kindle for just $4.99. But the plot is entirely different, and should be enjoyed on its own merits. One might be forgiven for thinking that a suspenseful and dangerous scene involving the children escaping death in the fire is in the cards, but Norton has something quite different in mind, though it does relate to the London fire.īonfires and Broomsticks has even less connection to the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks than The Magic Bed-Knob does, aside from having a plot element involving a magical spell called “intrasubstantiary locomotion” (called “substitutiary locomotion” in the film).

For example, when the children first meet Emelius and find out what date it is, Carey brightly comments that the Fire of London will occur in a week’s time (you have to admire her outstanding memory for historical dates). The plot didn’t go at all in the direction I expected. But then three strangely-dressed (but polite!) children show up on Emelius’s doorstep.īonfires and Broomsticks is another charming, old-fashioned magical adventure, this one focused on time travel. Meanwhile, in London in late August, 1666, a 35-year-old, nervous necromancer named Emelius Jones has just taken over the magical practice of his old mentor, who told Emelius on his deathbed that there really was no magic involved in what they do it’s just fooling people.

Maybe just one little trip into the past? It is rather tempting, Miss Price agrees … But, the children argue, almost anything is fine in moderation, and they never did get the chance to try the time-traveling aspect of the bed-knob. Or maybe not: Miss Price, while pleased to see them, has decided that being a witch is a Bad Idea, and she’s given up magic. And they still have the magic bed-knob that enables them to fly through time and space on Paul’s old bed, which is now in Miss Price’s bedroom! Good magical times ahead!

The three young siblings, Carey, Charles and Paul, get the chance to leave London and spend the summer in Bedfordshire with their spinster friend, Miss Price, who was a witch in training. In Bonfires and Broomsticks, part two of Mary Norton’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks duology, it’s two years after events of the first book, The Magic Bed-Knob. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature: 3.5 stars for this 1947 children's fantasy.

Bedknobs and broomsticks bonfires and broomsticks