I accidentally read this last book in the series before the other two (gasp!) but I don't think it makes a difference since they don't seem to have any discernible connection running through them in terms of continuity.Once again, the magic in this book is ...inscrutable. Norton doesn't bother to explain her magic, which I still find an interesting thing. Another thing I enjoy about her books - while they are not the most complex plots I have ever read (they are children's novels, for the most part), there is a sense of realism about them, that you can appreciate even after you have 'outgrown' them. The characters and their problems are believable and fleshed out. Another thing that's intriguing to me is how Norton doesn't wrap things up neatly (and, I always felt, unrealistically), which I think is not something often seen in many stories for children. At the end of this book, Nan and Chris know that things may not get better - but they are going to try the best they can to move them in that direction, and I think that's a good lesson for kids. Nothing is ever easy, or completely finished.
It's funny how many characters in Norton books come from 'broken' families. In this story, a model inn triggers time-travel episodes that teach the viewpoint characters how to be siblings.I've mentioned before how Norton argued repeatedly that one ought to comply with authority figures, no matter how cruel or corrupt. I should add here what I've noted before: she seemed to equate education with physical and emotional abuse. It's no wonder that few of Norton's characters are scholars by preference--though some in later books are.The illustrations are good pictures, but they bear little resemblance to the text. The model Red Hart inn is repeatedly described as very small (one sequence says you could hold it in one hand). But in the drawings, it's shown as quite a bit larger.
