Books Are Magic

I grew up in a house full of books. Both of my parents are avid readers, therefore my sister and I are also avid readers. I was always encouraged to read. In a sense you could say I was born knowing that books are magic. But sometimes there's that one book that really opens the door even wider for you.

When I was in elementary school I became obsessed with "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hobson Burnett. That novel was my first novel of complete magic. Not that there was any actual magic in the novel, it's not "Harry Potter". But the imagery, the sense of wonder the book conveys, not conveys, commands. That book is magic. Plain and simple. 

When I was in middle school my Mom started working at our local library. I grew up in a very small town in Colorado until high school. The library was one room, divided literally by bookshelves, overflowing with books. I've looked it up and the library has since been moved to a much larger building. Which actually makes me a bit sad. I loved that tiny library and spending afternoons there while my Mom was working. When we moved away all I wanted for Christmas that year was books. Books I had fallen in love with and checked out over and over again, rereading them like I needed them to breathe. 

One such book was "Shadow Castle" by Marian Cockrell. My second dose of a book that just ebbs
magic. You can see the shadows in the book. smell the damp corridors of the goblins. All books transport you but this one, this one envelopes you in a way I can't describe other than pure magic. 

I've purged and downsized several times since moving out of my parents house, small apartments with a husband and son does not always leave a lot of space for me holding onto the past. And yet, somehow my copy of "Shadow Castle" has followed me, from Colorado to LA, from my parents house to my first and second apartment. It feels like a part of me, a part I couldn't possibly let go of, because I need it's magic. I need to read it to my son when he's old enough to sit still through it. I need to re-read it for myself to remind me of why reading is so crucial to my personality. 

It's technically a children's book. Not a picture book by any means there are very few pictures in the book, but the ones that are there are beautiful black and white sketches like you would see in a very old fashioned fairytale book. 

"Shadow Castle" is a story within a story, Lucy stumbles upon the castle and running into its occupant is treated to the story of the castle's history. Is treated to seeing the magic tower that allows Mika to see his love and his child as they await him in fairyland. 

The setting of the story, the way it's told, the beauty of it all makes it my magical favorite. I've read this book probably a dozen times by now, and by the time I am no longer able to read I can't imagine how many times I will have read it. Part of the magic for me is probably that it transports me back to when I first read it. When I believed in magic, when life hadn't literally and figuratively kicked my ass. When life was shiny and bright and I had no idea the true horrors of the world that still existed, when stress was only my social anxiety and not the worries parents and adults face every day. 

If you have a young child, read them this story, ingrain in them a time portal to go back and remember the magic of childhood, the wonder of the world. If you don't have a child, read it for yourself, maybe it will still transport you to when you believed in magic. 

"Shadow Castle" by Marian Cockrell

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