What would you wish for if you could have one wish granted every day? Five siblings--well, really only four of five because "Lamb" is too young--in E. Nesbit's Five Children and It discover that deciding what to wish for is only the beginning of their troubles. When they uncover a sand fairy who promises to grant them a wish a day, "careful what you wish for" becomes a much more colorful aphorism.

Somehow, I had not read E. Nesbit's work before, and I am not familiar with turn-of-the-20th-Century British lit for children. I don't know if this title is typical; it's really a collection of tales bound by a theme and characters. Not all of the tales translate as well to this time as some do, but they create a fun structure for the story, and Nesbit's conversational style delighted me. Her voice, speaking directly to her young readers, was probably my favorite part of the book--witty, instructive without patronizing, friendly. She charmed me.

Unseen Academicals, a Discworld story, offers more of Mr. Pratchett's reliable humor and satisfying characters, but it also offers a different kind of satire than other Discworld titles I've read. In Unseen Academicals, "it's personal."

With the introduction of Nutt and his circle of friends who are truly the "unseen" keeping the wheels of Unseen University turning (and its faculty eating), Pratchett focuses his commentary on what it means to be an individual in a group, a more granular and yet more universal target than politics or nationalism or capitalism or sexism. Here we have a story that explores what makes us who we are, raising questions about the relationships between perceptions, personal worth, and identity--again, not superficial topics, but, as always with Pratchett, super-fun.

Two worlds united in the sound of one bell and through one house, Aislinn House. One world has fallen under the spell of a sorcerer from the other, and the only hope it has to break free of “the ritual” lies with a princess, who dares to question the strict customs that nobody seems to understand, and a descendant of the sorcerer who (like his ancestor) crosses the threshold between the two worlds.

Sealey Head, a remote Victorian-like town situated on the ocean’s craggy coast, is of the world that is not spellbound, but it is enchanting. It is the setting for most of Ms. McKillip’s narrative, and, for me, it provided the most enjoyable part of an enjoyable book. While I read on to unravel the mystery of the bell, I reveled in the description of Sealey Head Inn, its food (good and bad) and decoration, and of Hesper’s home in the woods surrounding Aislinn House. I also appreciated the relationships between women in and across the two worlds, which encouraged examination of women’s roles by juxtaposing them. The finish seemed a little abrupt and unsatisfying after having such a good time getting to it, but overall, I thought this was a magically subtle book about magic and other things. I rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars.