I don't know if it was the same in your family, but some books seemed to be around forever.
The book I want to talk about today was one of those which was a surprise for me when I pulled out my copy because it's definitely not the family copy, and not just because there's a sticker with a stranger's name in it. I seem to remember that ours looked much more battered, probably no surprise in a big family.
It's Sid Fleischman's first children's book, "Mr. Mysterious & Company", about a travelling magician and his family, and only as a grown-up when I found one of his other books, I became aware how much more he had written, not just children's books, but also screenplays, novels for adults such as detective or adventure stories, and books about magic.
I know I loved this book as a child, but I haven't read it forever, so who knows if the magic is still there (pun intended!). Let's find out together.
Mr. Mysterious & Company - that is the Hackett family with father Andrew Perkins Hackett, Mama, uhm, whose name is never mentioned, and the children Jane, Paul, and Anne.
With them are Hocus and Pocus, the horses pulling their wagon, and Madam Sweetpea, the cow who determines their travelling speed, and some rabbits.
Set in 1884, the book tells the story of the Hacketts travelling through the country with the destination of San Diego where they finally want to settle down.
On their travels from city to city, they entertain people with their magic show in which each of them has their own role, the father as Mr. Mysterious who makes a chicken give milk, pulls rabbits out of hats and shows slides with the magic lantern, Mama on the piano, Jane as the Sleeping Princess floating in the air, Paul as the all knowing Great Sphinx, and Anne is the living doll in the enchanted dollhouse.
There's more to their life, though. Mama, who used to be a teacher, gives them school lessons, but they also have adventures.
They have an encounter with grumpy Jeb Grimes whose dog they have found for whom Pa gives up his golden watch. He's so smart they re-name him "Professor" and he even gets his own part in the show because he loves rope jumping.
They help a sheriff catch the thief called the Badlands Kid who stole Grimes's gold.
They get to ride a high-wheel bicycle when they meet a wandering newspaperman and his family who are on their way to found a new town.
They use the magic lantern to chase off horse thieves (more on that later).
Pa tricks some farmhands who have locked up a judge who has sentenced one of their friends to jail for stealing cattle.
And then there is of course Abracadabra Day.
It's the family's secret holiday. As the children don't have much chance to misbehave, they each get one day they are allowed to be bad or pull pranks without being punished for it, but you can't announce it beforehand.
Paul uses his feet to untie the knot of the rope holding Madam Sweetpea to the wagon.
Jane pins up her hair during one of the shows although Mama says she's too young for that.
Anne catches ten frogs she lets loose during a show.
In the end, they make it to California. The thought of never putting on a magic show again makes them all sad, but on the other hand they are also happy to settle down. Jane will be able to have friends for longer than a day, Paul will help Pa on the farm, and Anne might be able to take the ballet lessons she has been dreaming of.
Then they meet Big Jim Norton. He plans to open a theater and asks them to put up a show once a month and Pa says yes.
"By gosh and by golly ... It's a bargain. Why, we could declare it a kind of Abracadabra Day. Once a month - magic for everyone."
This book is from 1962 and of course it feels aged in parts.
There is a "cigar store Indian" in one town which unfortunately hasn't been unusual for much longer than that, and the horse thieves mentioned above are Native Americans.
One Goodreads review, for example, said there are other books that don't "perpetuate and normalize racism". To be honest, I think that's taking it too far. It is said that Mama has met good and bad Indians, there are no derogatory names ("Indians" was still used at the time), and they are not the only ones who pose a threat in this story.
What I personally disliked most about this part of the chapter was the illustration going with it.
I think if you read the book to a child, you could either skip that part or use it for a little history lesson.
It probably really depends on the child, though, if this is a fun story telling it a bit about the olden days - like the newspaperman explaining how you can make a city by setting up a newspaper first and attracting people that way - or if it thinks it's a boring story.
I think it's still a bit of fun.
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| Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
Fleischman wrote the book for his own children Jane, Paul (who also became a writer), and Anne, by the way, and dedicated it to them.
In fifth grade, he decided to become a magician. After the war he finished college and first worked as a reporter, then went into writing fiction which led to him becoming a Hollywood screenwriter.
Writing "Mr. Mysterious & Company" for his children made him get into children's books, but he also never gave up magic completely.
"They didn't understand what I did for a living. Other fathers left home in the morning and returned at the end of the day. I was always around the house. I decided to clear up the mystery and wrote a book just for them."
Fleischman liked to incorporate history, folklore, and of course magic in his books but also humor.
The Sid Fleischman Humor Award, whose first recipient he was (among many other awards including the Newbery Medal), is given each year in his honor by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Sources:
1. Sid Fleischman website
2. Mr. Mysterious & Company on Goodreads
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