#757 Magic Man- Sheila Kohler

#757 Magic Man- Sheila Kohler

A very somber story. There is nothing more despicable than a child abduction, or the mistreatment of a child. Yet, many cultures have scary stories about just that topic. Fairy tales often have monsters taking young children, sometimes even eating them. They are told, of course, to teach children to be wary of strangers and mind their surroundings, but they are still scary stories.

S.P. is an eight-year-old girl with a troubled over-protective mother. They are visiting her mother’s family in South Africa with her two younger sister’s in tow. She is the oldest and often must take care of her mother’s depression and do things well beyond what an eight year old should have to concern herself with. Her mother clutches her close, physically like a security blanket. S.P escapes to go use the bathroom and comes across a man she believes is the Magic Man from the stories she has been told. Her inability to separate reality from fairy tale, the fault of her mother’s smothering parenting may get her into the type of trouble she has been protected from.

Taken literally, the story is a straight up abduction story, scary and unpleasant. Symbolically the abduction could be seen as the mother’s depression stealing her child away from her or S.P. caught between wanting to help her mother and wanting to escape and be a child—and being frightened of that freedom when she gets it.

The storyline and characters are a loose homage of the German myth Erlkonig (the Earl King) that was a child snatcher with magical powers. Wrapping an abduction story with mythology cuts some of the sharpness of such a distasteful topic. 

Rating: 8-8-8-7 Total= 31