Stone Wizard

Timothy

by Margaret Storey

Genres: Childrens

84 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Margaret Storey is the author of several books for children. Neil Gaiman has cited her as an influence: "Margaret Storey is more or less out of print these days, alas. I loved her when I was about seven or eight, and am looking forward to finding out how much of her stuff has wound up in mine."

Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey write under the pen names Susannah Stacey and Elizabeth Eyre.
Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey have written many books together, but the Elizabeth Eyre pen name seems only to have been used for the Sigismondo series of novels.

She lived in south west London

Reviews

[Capn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Margaret Storey's second book for younger children about Timothy and Ellen and their friend the White Witch Melinda. The first is called Timothy and Two Witches; magic, dragons, wizards and witches both white and black abound in both. Illustrated by Charles W. Stewart

Damn and blast - either I'd forgotten it was a sequel, or I was never aware. Normally I wouldn't be too put off, but the first, as referenced in the text, sounds pretty good...

Awestruck. It's so nearly perfect! I'm going to have to track down the rest of this series (7 books in total).

It's only 84 pages long, and it's just.. well, it's exactly the sort of magical adventure you'd want to have, as two kids left alone for an afternoon with naught but their fertile imaginations at hand. Timothy and Ellen are left to play and have a picnic tea in the countryside, with Tim's father telling them he'll be back at 5:30, they're not to leave the field, and if they need any assistance Mrs. Joiner in the neighbouring cottage will help them.

So, naturally, off they run to the small spinney to climb trees and have their tea up there, straightaway. What next? Pirates, of course, in the Spanish Main! Yar har!

Ellen gets a splinter in her eye, and they're forced to abandon ship and seek out Mrs. Joiner's help. She's just a normal old country lady, right?!

Next thing we know, we're escaping with an intelligent cat and making phone calls inside a hollow tree on a seashell while consulting the witch's directory, frantically seeking to reach Melinda, their white witch pal from book one (which I sadly have yet to read) and safety.

And it just gets better from then on out. :)

Sigh. Another scarce, hard-to-track down series I absolutely need in my life.

[Kate Sherrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melinda should be as well known as Mary Effing Poppins. Love the covert dragonboning...