Magic Shop Books

Magic Shop is a series of books by Bruce Coville about children who run away from trouble and find Mr. Elives Magic Shop, where they find strange objects in and a moral. The series includes the following books:

• Jennifer Murdley's Toad
  • Jennifer Murdley had no idea what she was getting into the day she bought the big toad from the strange man who ran Elives’ Magic Shop. The thing didn’t even start talking to her until she had it out of the shop.And once the toad did start to talk, it still kept a lot of secrets. So Jennifer didn’t find out about his strange birth… or the treasure hidden in his forehead… or the witch who was out to get him… until she and her friends were in more trouble than they ever dreamed of!

• Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
  • If Howard Morton and Freddie the Frog Killer were trying to hold you down so that Mary Lou Hutton could kiss you, you might run as fast as Jeremy Thatcher did the day he stumbled into Mr. Elives’ Magic Shop. And if you stumbled into that strange shop, you, too might be asked to make a choice. What would you buy? The Chinese rings? The Skull of Truth? Or the dragon’s egg? And if you did buy the dragon’s egg, what would you do when you found out you were supposed to hatch it?

• Juliet Dove, Queen of Love
  • Rats! Juliet Dove's worst nightmare is about to come true: People are going to start noticing her. For anyone else, that'd be no big deal, but Juliet Dove isn't like anyone else. Whenever she's teased, shy Juliet defends herself… by saying the sorts of mean things that should never be said. It is Juliet's vicious mouth that sends her fleeing to Mr. Elives' magic shop, but it is her tender heart that causes her to leave with a beautiful amulet. The ancient bauble casts a powerful spell on every boy she meets: each falls hopelessly in love with her. Worse still, Juliet can't take the amulet off… and its power seems to be increasing.

• The Monster's Ring
  • It all starts when Russell Crannaker buys a “monster’s ring” from weird old Mr. Elives Magic Shop. Russell is sure the ring is just a silly magic trick—but he follows the instructions anyway, and slips it on his finger. Then he whispers the magic chant, twists the ring once, and suddenly he’s sprouting horns! Hair covers his face and hands. Russell has become… a monster!

• The Skull of Truth
  • When Charlie Eggleston stumbles into Mr. Elive’s mysterious magic shop, he’s just looking for a phone so he can call his parents. What he finds is a wise-cracking skull that leads him into the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way, Charlie will learn some unexpected lessons about truth, love friendship, and bad haircuts.

There are also several short stories in which other children encounter the Magic Shop. These are published in several anthologies written by Coville. These include:

• The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones*

• The Mask of Eamon Tiyado*

Characters

• Mr. Elives-A strange old man that runs the magic shop.
• Roxanne and Jerome- Two magical talking rats that were born from a witches mouth.
• Jennifer Murdley
• Jeremy Thatcher
• Russel Crannaker
• Juliet Dove
• Charlie Eggleston
• Bufo The Toad came out of the witch's mouth; one of the immortal vermin.
• Tiamat the dragon
• Yorick the skull of truth
• Hyacinth Priest- The librarian that knows more than you think

External links

• Bruce Coville website http://www.brucecoville.com/books.asp