The Magician’s Boy wants to learn magic. But the Magician says the Boy must wait until the time is right. When the Magician’s Saint George puppet disappears at the start of a performance of Saint George and the Dragon during a party, he orders the boy into the Land of Story to retrieve it. Bewildered, the Boy finds himself at the party one moment and in a strange woods the next. He has a series of seemingly impossible encounters—first with a bossy signpost who becomes his constant, uninvited companion, and then with one fabled character after another: the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe and her brood, Peter Piper, Pinocchio, Jack and the Giant, and others. Their stories are all intertwined, and while each encounter demands courage or ingenuity from the Boy, none of them seem to be leading him any closer to Saint George—or are they? Susan Cooper’s short, breezy adventure story is about a boy who has a very surprising discovery in store. Serena Riglietti’s full-page, black-and-white illustrations are a whimsical addition to this fanciful story. (Ages 7–9; younger for reading aloud)