Amanda Greenleaf and the Boy Magician

William Blackburn is a professor of English at the University of
Calgary.

In this novel, as in his two previous “Amanda Greenleaf” books,
Kavanagh uses fantasy to raise and probe moral issues in a way he
considers accessible to children. When Amanda (“much wiser and
stronger than she looks,” even though she is “only a child”) is
ordered to return to Blue Star to report on conditions there, she is
accompanied by the boy-magician Nollekeus. Together, they use their
powers to rescue an innocent woman from prison, and also to end the
long-standing war on Blue Star, a planet as well known for war as it is
for music. The moral dimension is provided by the lessons Amanda and
Nollekeus—and presumably the reader—learn about the limitations of
power.

The magic that proved so effective on their home planet is far less so
on Blue Star. The consequences are at first broadly comic—as when
Nollekeus tries to heat a bowl of soup, but succeeds only in trashing
the kitchen—but soon become less so. He discovers his magic will work
only if performed by a native of Blue Star, so he must share the secrets
of his power with a ragged local boy. Amanda submits to capture to
enable her friends to escape during the prison break. Having made these
personal sacrifices, they are qualified to intervene on the battlefield,
turn the arrows of the opposing armies into musical notes, and bully the
two kings into making peace. Mission—in all senses of the
word—accomplished.

The author’s attempt to make the predicaments of power clear to
children is commendable. Granted, his characters are flat rather than
complex; and the fact that the war on Blue Star has no cause—or even
pretext—other than paranoia likewise oversimplifies complicated
issues. Still, the children’s sense of responsibility, and the price
they must pay to learn that “peace is perfect magic,” are valid
comments on the nature and limitations of power. In this novel Kavanagh
offers his young readers something more than just pap for thought.