The Magic Spectacles

by Lilian Moore, Arnold Lobel (Illustrator)

Those spectacles must be magic! Because wise old Grandfather Owl wore them and he just knew so much! So Little Hoot waited until his grandfather was asleep and borrowed the magic glasses. And, boy, did Little Hoot get wise!

Renowned author Lilian Moore and award-winning illustrator Arnold Lobel bring us seven more terrific tall tales of beasts and birds, of dogs and dreams and danger.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens

66 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Lilian Moore grew up in New York, received a degree in teaching from Hunter College, and did graduate work at Columbia University. She attended college during the Depression, so job opportunities were few. She worked for the Bureau of Educational Research, helping children who could not read in their Reading Clinic. Ms. Moore was also a reading specialist for the New York Board of Education. She trained teachers and did extensive research into reading difficulties.

She was the editor of Scholastic's first paperback book club, the Arrow Book Club, beginning in 1957. As she said, "Imagine making it possible for these youngsters to choose and buy good books for the price of comics!" She was an editor at Wonder Books, Thomas Y. Crowell, and contributor to Humpty Dumpty magazine.

In addition, Ms. Moore was a founding member of the Council on Interracial Books for Children. Ms. Moore died on July 20, 2004, at the age of 95.

She is best known for her poetry and easy-to-read books.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven little stories! Just right for a child almost ready for 'real' books... because though this has controlled vocabulary and sentence length, it's not lacking in richness or resonance. Yes, it's a little bit dated, but not in a bad way. Moore is a poet, and the graceful writing shows it. The story "The Now Really Time" was, imo, the best written, and "The Silver Bird Express" is probably the most memorable. I would have loved this when I was a little girl.

Available on openlibrary.org to read online for free.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this little gem at a book sale. The stories are cute and it's a good beginner reader. I mostly bought it because it's illustrated by Arnold Lobel. He's a favorite mine. I love his simple illustrations and stories. The smell of the book is nostalgic. I made my kids smell it.

[Lea Beall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of very easy to read stories, so the plots and themes of the stories are very simple. However, it does have some big words like "conductor," "throttle," "parakeet," "happened," and "spectacles" among others. The illustrations by Lobel are typical of him, which means they aren't typical at all! The drawings are funny, cartoon like, expressive and with subtle strokes of action.

[Ms. Carstensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book with predictable outcome. Little Hoot wants to be just like Grandfather Hoot.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was little.