Lavender-Green Magic

The Magic Books #5

by Andre Norton, Tristan Elwell (cover illustration)

A mysterious maze
Eleven-year-old Holly Wade and her twin siblings, Judy and Crockett, are sent to live with their grandparents in the small town of Dimsdale, Massachusetts when their father is declared missing in action in Vietnam. Dimsdale is nothing like Boston; there are only two other African-American children in the entire school. Even worse, Grandpa and Grandma Wade live in an old junkyard! While exploring one day, Holly, Judy, and Crockett wander into an overgrown hedge maze--and find themselves transported back in time to Dimsdale's past. Can they right an ancient wrong and free the town of Dimsdale from a witch's curse?

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Time Travel, Middle Grade, Science Fiction

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Illuviel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was instrumental in my coming-of-age and helped shape the person I've become. I don't know how well it will hold up to rereading, but I remember it and Holly, Tamar & Hagar very well and I am grateful for its presence in my life.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m always surprised by Andre Norton’s range. She wrote space opera, action-adventure, and fantasy, with characters of all ages, genders, situations in life, and species, and it was all good. I’ve never picked up a book of hers that I didn’t like, and Lavender-Green Magic is no exception. This book is set during the Vietnam War and tells the tale of three kids sent to live with their grandparents while their father fights and their mother works. (She had to take a nursing job in a rest home-type place, so they couldn’t stay with her.)

I can’t really summarize the plot effectively without giving away too much, so I will just say that the kids get themselves intertwined in a peculiar situation involving time travel and magic in the colonial era, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Long story short: Andre Norton rocks.

[Greyer Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of my formative witchcraft books

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a child, and spent years searching out it's half forgotten and yet beloved story. I only dimly remembered the title (kept thinking herbs, herbs, WHICH herbs) and bits of plot (an embroidered pillow, twins, good vs evil, a forest and labyrinthian maze) and yet I continued to search. Finally, bless the good folk at rec.arts.books.children, I was gifted with the correct title and author and the information that it is out of print but readily available used. Twinkly friendly cyber-friends told me I would love it today as much as I did then, and they were absolutely right. It's pure enchantment.

Reread in 2018 and I still love it.

[Doris · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the father of eleven-year-old Holly and her twin siblings , Judy and Crockett, disappears during a mission in Vietnam, he is declared MIA, and the children go to their grandparents in a small town on the coast of Massachusetts. They are used to the city, and other children who are more like them (they are black). Lonely and not sure how to fit in, the children explore the maze and the junkyard, which initiates a chilling time travel where their lives, and their future selves, are at stake. Their mission - try to remedy an ancient ill without affecting the future in a bad way. The witch's curse twists through time, snaring the 3 and entangling them in a bitter past.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read this before. Back in the 80s. I still have my used copy from the library booksale. I love the author who designed the cover. It's gorgeous. I spent too much time staring at the cover. I like the different portrayals of the two witches, Tamar and Hagar and their different worlds. It's very cool and a lot of cool imagery. I like the Wades. They seem like real people and bonus for African-American characters that are real. Not even sure it would happen now. I think at times that she leaves things out and you think that there is going to be more tying up than there is with Miss Elvery. Or I missed something. Was a good re-read.

[Valerie]

I'm not sure when I began to suspect that the 'witches' Hagar and Tamar are not 'sisters', but different aspects of the same character. I could have been clued in by the 2-sided pillow, or the labyrinth that can be threaded two ways.

This double-sided character is never explicitly identified as such, of course--but I would say it was pretty obvious from context. True, they do appear together in one scene--but it's extemporal, and also pretty extraneous, as if added as an afterthought. And there's another
(half)-scene in the middle in which the main viewpoint character Holly catches a side-glimpse of someone who is neither Hagar NOR Tamar, but somehow an amalgam. She ignores this, but I think it's key.

I'm not sure I care for the valorization of suffering, or for the idea that a life which includes a family member who's a professional killer is 'safe and right'. Always have had that problem with Norton. But the development is subtle, and Norton's odd relationship with racism (deriding it when it refers to groups she approves of, uncritically accepting it when applying it to the 'evil') is tempered somewhat herein. Norton resists characterizing entire sibs and clans of people as inherently, implacably 'evil' in this book, and the story is enriched thereby.

NB--at the end of this book there're recipes for old-timey crafts (such as rose-beads). Worth remembering for school projects, etc.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this in a stack of the books I saved to re-read, and now am wondering just why it took me so long to re-read it. Great story, change the name of the war, and it would fit in today. It's the story of 3 children, whose father is MIA in Vietnam. Their mother takes a job where there's no place for the kids so they are living with their grandparents. For younger readers, it's an enjoyable tale with good and bad magic, and the struggle for a young girl to fit in an unknown place. For older readers, you can see the parallel between what is happening in the young girl's mind to how she is dealing with missing parents. Great reading!!

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm prone to ask strangers for book suggestions, and this is one of the better ones I have received, of late. While, I'm not usually a fan of children protagonists I quite enjoyed this book. I'm hopeful that it is a decent representation of Norton's works; since I had previously be unaware of her existence and am now looking forward to reading more of what she has done. I finished this one in a sitting and thing it paired swimmingly with a rainy evening and a spot of tea.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book in the actual 1970's. It had a certain charm that stayed with me all these years later.

[Anne-marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely engaging story with an emphasis on earth "magic" and inner resourcefulness and attitude choices

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book at a used book sale. I had never heard of the book, nor of the author, but it intrigued me, so I bought it for 50¢. What a treasure it was! Lavender-Green Magic is about three children who's father goes missing in action during the Vietnam war. Their mother takes them to live with their grandparents so that she can find work to support them. While there, the children get entangled with the schemes of two witches--one good and one evil--who lived in the area hundreds of years previously.

The main character is Holly Wade, the eldest of the three children. The story shows how her frustration, anger, and lack of emotional security (probably a result of her father being MIA) lead her to hurt others and damage her relationships with those close to her. It also shows how she projects her negative emotions onto others, leading her to believe that those around her are out to get her because of her African-american race or because of her grandparents' poverty, even when evidence to the contrary is presented to her multiple times. All of this leads her to exercise unjust power over her siblings to compensate for her emotional state. I loved this, because I think it is a true commentary on human nature. In the end, the evil witch is able to use her negative emotions to manipulate her into doing her will.

The setting was enchanting. Mercy and Luther (grandma and grandpa) tend a junk yard in a small town. They don't have much, but they find uses for things that others throw out and fix what they can to sell. They value what they have, and try to keep the dump as attractive as possible by burying the unsightly garbage and planting trees and gardens. They embody a spirit of self-reliance, proactivity, and industry which I think is alien to our modern world of prosperity. It's something I have striven for superficially, but have never truly attained. I guess this is because I have been blessed to live in a world of plenty where I have no true needs which are not easily met. But I love the feeling that this produced in me as I read about Mercy and Luther, and want to follow their example.

The magic was also fun to read about. It seemed primarily plant-based. Herbs and herbal recipes hold a central role in the magic's functioning, even having the ability to sustain a bridge through time if a seed from one time is planted in another and grows. I love botany and herbal medicine, so I loved this about the story. The mechanics of magic is exposed enough to be intriguing and to lend an interesting flavor to the story, but is left sufficiently unexplained to allow for mystery and imagination.

[Pamela Bronson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun low fantasy for elementary kids, but didn't seem as good as the first time I read it, probably in my 20s, when I was less critical. It also suffered this time from being read alongside Forster and Tolkien.

It has some fairly obvious messages, like environmental awareness, respecting and preserving the crafts, artifacts, attitudes, and places of the past, and generally being good and fair to others. I was struck this time by how the main character gets really angry at her new classmates because she imagines they are saying things about her which they aren't saying. By expecting rejection, she repels the other kids.

The grandparent/grandchild relationships are good, although they've barely met before the kids end up in their grandparents' care. The old folks are loving and wise but they expect the kids to help and they teach them skills.

The main characters are Black, but the cover of my edition shows only a white woman. I suspect this was done on purpose so white kids will start reading it, and that could be a good thing. Racism plays a pretty small part in the story, and much of it is imagined. Is that because the author is white? I'd be interested in a Black reader's perspective.

Careful parents should know that there are two witches, one good, one bad, and that the good one talks about respecting "the gods", but doesn't make a big deal of it or really talk about them. She implies that reincarnation happens. No bad language, no romance.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning: no spoilers, but I'm sharing political thoughts that parallel the story.

I checked this out of the library when I was young, but didn't remember so much about the story or the details, except for the title. I randomly thought of it, and got a copy to re-read it, and was pleasantly surprised at the narrative (although it's definitely geared toward the YA crowd or even younger), and its message of history, struggle and hope. I'm not sure kids will take away those themes, but as an adult I did.

I also noted how this story from back in the 1970s kind-of relates to today's world where old, rich white conservative men are trying to control the poor and BIPOC folks and turn our democratic country toward authoritarianism.

And how kids who learn the moral lessons in this story can save the world.

[Myra Beatrice]

This book seems to be written for a younger demographic, so I haven't put a rating because I think some aspects of it would be a lot more meaningful for a different audience. I will say that it offers some thought-provoking moments regarding race relations, particularly for children growing up and trying to navigate normal social tensions at the same time as wondering whether their ethnicity is impacting their social experience at school. The fantasy elements, storyline and setting are fun and evocative - you can picture the labyrinth and the cottage. After all, what children wouldn't love to find an enchanted labyrinth in their grandparents' backyard?

[Lisa Kizer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know this was written in 1974, but I kinda felt like it was odd. Andre Norton a white woman writing about a young black girl's experience(which I agree would be the same as a white girl's experience) with time travel and fantasy but .... The grandparents dialect to me came off as too southern for people living in Massachusetts (and therefore very stereotypical). The plot now was at times long winded but interesting. When I first read the blurb about this book I really thought there would be more about how Holly got magic to get her father back from Vietnam.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great little read. Time travel, a green witch with herbal lore and forgotten maze garden lost to time.

I've not read much Andre Norton. If this is good example then I will have to hunt more of her work.

[alice Tileston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed from library:
Recently started reading authors from my childhood and discovered many I missed.
Ms Nortons books are easy to fall into the story.Having a great time reading my way thru her "magic" series...

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book held true to the magic and wonder I remember from reading it as a child. Now revisiting it as an adult I am no less impressed and enchanted than I was as a child. Andre Norton is an excellent story teller, and although her writing reflects popular usages of the time, now, 40 years later, the conventions do seem a little dated but of course that can be forgiven.

Lavender Green Magic is the story of three siblings, Holly, Judy and Crocket Wade who come to live at their grandparent's Junkyard when their father is missing in action in Vietnam, and their mother has to take a job at a nearby nursing home to survive financially. The Wade children come to learn of the curse that once occupied the Dimsdale property that the junkyard sits on, and they soon discover an old overgrown maze that holds the secrets of good, evil, time travel and choices that will determine the future of not only the Dimsdale that is, but also of the past occupant, Tamar and Hagar,that dwell there.

This timeless children's novel touches on many themes: that of fear of change, personal growth, conquering your demons, making right choices and the more blantant surface theme of choosing good over evil.

Andre Norton approaches this theme in a manner that is never heavy handed. The main character Holly, is greatly influenced by negative forces, both through her own darker fear-based mind and through that of the dark witch Hagar whom she encounters through the maze.But she never fully sucumbs to these urges, so she never crosses the line from protagonist to antagonist. Holly's conscience does not let her betray her siblings and she toys with using the dark powers but for the good of her family.

The wonder of this novel, I feel, comes with the growth of Holly and how she is put in a place of trust by her siblings as they never do lose faith in her. This story has a happy ending and will continue to delight children who enjoy all the magic, mystery and imagination that this book has to offer.

Reading this again as an adult, I was reminded how richly this book played into our creative world. My friend and I would act out this book and make our own herbal potions, pretending to be Tamar. We would write our own herb recipe books and good spell books and we made the rose beads and tea delights suggested in the book. My friend even dressed as Tamar for Halloween. It was great reliving my childhood when I read this again, and I hope to pass it on to my thirteen year old son, who also loves fantasy.

[Arliegh Kovacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth book in Andre Norton's 'Magic' series for older children/young adults [Steel Magic, Octagon Magic, Fur Magic, and Dragon Magic precede it, although each are stand-alone books.] This book begins with Holly Wade and her younger (twin) brother & sister -- Crock and Judy traveling to the small town of Dimsdale to stay with grandparents they have never known. [Their father has been reported missing in action, their mother has sold their home in Boston & will be working as a nurse at Rest Home just far enough away from them that she won't be able to visit often.] Crock and Judy begin to adjust well but Holly is upset before they ever arrive -- and more so when she discovers that her grandparents are in charge of, and live at, the town garbage dump. To make matters worse, in her opinion, there are only three other black children in their school. Holly is suspicious of everyone and wants her siblings to feel the same way she does.
Then she discovers a strange, embroidered pillow stuffed with herbs when her grandfather takes the children to an estate sale. When Judy sleeps on the pillow she dreams about how to enter the tangled maze on the Dimsdale property -- and how to get to the center. Magic... both good and bad... enters their lives. What will it mean to each of the children? How will the past affect the present? And can those in the present affect what happened in the past?
Once the magic started, my 11 year old grandson was entranced by the book and eager each night for us to read more.

[Sherrill Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1974. Illustrated by Judith Gwyn Brown, who did The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I suppose this is a children's book, at least it's about children, perhaps it could be read to kids.

Mrs. Pearl Wade, Holly (11), Crockett and Judy, are moving to Dimsdale from Boston to live with their grandparents because their father is a MIA in Viet Nam. They are black, and Holly is convinced they'll find prejudice. The grandparents live in a barn, in a junkyard.

They find a old pillow, stuffed with leaves and bits of scented plants, which give the person who sleeps on it, dreams. Judy following her dream, lead them into the yard, into a green maze, and find an ancient pilgrim, (maybe a witch?) Tamar. Tamar is singing, gently "Lavendar's blue, dilly dilly, lavendar's green . . ." and among other things, gives them slips of plants to grow.

Holly tries it next, but the maze leads to Hagar, who claims to be Tamer's sister, but casts a spell on Crock and Judy, and also gives Holly some plants to take back.

There are many wise sayings by Tamar to the kids, and the story is very sweet throughout. Ultimately, Holly is reassured, Judy learns to stand up for what she believes in, and Crockett likewise grows up a little.

[Peggy Harkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

An older book -- and reads like it. Lots of long speeches by the characters. The plot could appeal to kids who are interested in the Salem Witch trials. This is a multicultural book.

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book as a child. It doesn't work nearly as well reading as an adult. Andre Norton is great at setting a mood, or at least at providing just enough clues for your brain to create something marvelous. Often the conclusion is unsatisfactory - the mist parts to revel nothing. Or more mist. Or a statement that the explanation will happen later on off screen.

The story is simplistic, I'm far less tolerant of the main character, and yet. I still care. I still want my why questions answered. I still think it would be nice to make all of the recipies for Tamar's Rose Beads & Other Old Delights.

I doubt I'll ever read again. And yet I've probably said that multiple times before.

[Ellice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this book as a kid--I even remember where it was shelved in the San Marco Library--so was eager to re-read the copy I bought at a local library book sale, library binding and all. It's not the most skillful of Andre Norton's books (it's a little heavy-handed with its depictions of good and evil and some of the folksy dialogue makes me cringe a bit), but it has some clever conceits.

[Mary Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hunted this one down, like Zenna Henderson's People as a book to own, rather than just having 'read'. It is a lesser known children's story about magic, belonging and the use of dream pillows. Well written, and wonderful from the perspective of it being also a book about multiracial belonging supportive extended family. Good for children especially those who have had to live with blended family, homelessness and the issues about what magic is truly about: wonder, and fantasy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated, lacking subtlety and nuance in plot development, flat characters, but a wonderful ambience that mostly makes up for all the faults. The detailed description of the place made me feel like I was there, or at least wanted to visit.

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andre Norton was hands down my favorite author in junior high. This was one of my favorites, and one the ones I have gone back and read again as an adult. I think this is one of the ones I remember in particular because it was more character-driven. A fun book with a good message.

[Renamski · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enchanting tale set in the mid-seventies. Two sisters and their friends discover magic in a hedge maze.

[Brett]

Fantasy

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The exposition was a little excessive, but the story was fun once it got going. A good read for anyone who likes stories about witches and time coils and whatnot.