Five Children and It

Put this into the “I wish I’d read it before writing Chapter 2 of my book” file:

“There is a curtain, thin as gossamer, clear as glass, strong as iron, that hangs forever between the world of magic and the world that seems to us to be real.  And when once people have found the little weak spots in that curtain which are marked by magic rings, and amulets, and the like, almost anything may happen.” ~ Edith Nesbit, The Enchanted Castle, Chapter IX

I’m betting a few different connections can be made between this statement and some of our favorite stories.  Some have already noted the Tolkien parallel with the magic ring.  A few paragraphs after this one, a statement was made that struck me as something that could come right out of The Lord of the Rings:

“I haven’t done anything with the ring yet,” Kathleen said.

“I shouldn’t think you’d want to when you see the sorts of things it does with you,” said Gerald.

Remember also how Uncle Andrew found the way into Narnia and other magical worlds: magic rings. Nesbit’s influence on Lewis is well-documented.  In “The Aunt and Amabel,” young Amabel finds a magical world through a wardrobe in a spare room.  That should sound familiar.  Back to this in a moment.

Two things are noteworthy as far as Harry Potter goes: [click to continue…]

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