History Literature / MagicShop

!! This series provides examples of:

* TheAgeless: The Immortal Vermin. Bufo, the first of the Immortal Vermin to appear, says he can be killed, but barring such an incident, he will live forever. Jerome and Roxanne, the youngest of the Immortal Vermin, inform the protagonists of "The Skull of Truth" and "Juliet Dove, Queen of Love" of their status as "killable, but otherwise undying".

* BalefulPolymorph: When Jennifer Murdley's toad kisses a human, the human gets transformed into a toad. Strangely, if he kisses the transformed toad again, the toad merely grows bigger. The only way to cure the transformation is to have another human kiss you, but the catch is that the person who kisses you gets transformed into a toad in your place. Size doesn't transfer over to other people.
** Notably, this trope also plays out in reverse in the same book: there is in fact a toad that was turned into a human and isn't terribly happy about it.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor
* BeenThereShapedHistory: The Skull of Truth is actually a friend of Creator/WilliamShakespeare and the actual Yorick/skull used in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''.
* BigFriendlyDog: Jeremy Thatcher's family has a large golden retriever named Grief.
* BlackComedy:
** When Jeremy hesitates about buying chicken livers for Tiamat, she sends him an image of the family hamsters turned on their sides and in goblets. She also sends the thought of "YUMMY" when he realizes a cat is missing.
** Yorick is a talking skull that convinces Charlie to steal him, though Charlie does it by accident. Yorick is good at making light of the situation.

* BodyToJewel: Dragons weep diamonds.
* BrutalHonesty: Truth is the literal embodiment of this trope. Yorick as a spell compels this in everyone, including those that tell little lies to hide bad thoughts.
* CannotTellALie: In ''The Skull of Truth'', Yorick was "blessed" with the inability to lie. This led him to become a jester, the only position in which one could tell the king the truth and get away with it. It was implied this also led to his painful death, after which he became the title skull.
* ClingyMacGuffin: Helen of Troy's amulet.

* CoversAlwaysLie: At least one edition of Jennifer Murdley's Toad has a cover depicting Bufo, the toad in question, ranting to Jennifer, who on this cover is depicted as an attractive-looking blonde girl. The problem is that, in the book itself, Jennifer is specifically described as being... well, not as hot as the girl on the cover, to put it mildly. The illustrations in the book, for the record, depict Jennifer as looking fairly unattractive and chubby. It's possible that the girl is meant to be Sharra, who is in fact described as blonde and attractive; even so it still fits, as Sharra is a secondary character who only directly reacts to Bufo a handful of times.
* CrazyJealousGuy: All members of the opposite sex become this when you put on Helen of Troy's amulet.
* CueTheFlyingPigs: In ''Juliet Dove, Queen of Love'', Juliet is asked if she'll recite a poem at their town's annual Valentine's Day Poetry Jam, and responds with "When rats fly!" A few days later, the talking rats Roxanne and Jerome wake up with wings (ItMakesSenseInContext - they'd become temporary avatars of Cupid's power), and Juliet does indeed wind up reciting a poem at the Poetry Jam.
* CurseEscapeClause: In ''Juliet Dove, Queen of Love'', Juliet Dove gets a magic locket stuck around her neck. Because the locket magically causes all men to become obsessed with her [[spoiler:and is the prison of Eros, god of love]], she ''really'' wants to get rid of it. Unfortunately, she can't break the love spell on it until a "mouse roars like a lion" and can't get the locket off without a "mother's touch". [[spoiler:The mouse roaring like a lion refers to her overcoming her shyness and improvising a poem in front of an auditorium of people. The mother's touch is fulfilled when Aphrodite, mother of Eros, touches the locket while acknowledging she was wrong to separate him from Psyche.]]
* DemBones: Yorick the skull in ''The Skull of Truth''. He's immobile, but telepathic.
* DisproportionateRetribution:
** You have discipline with drawing but no talent, and there's a student of yours who is unfocused in class but highly talented. So of course [[SarcasmMode you pick on him at any opportunity you get, for the crime of being a kid and better than you]].
** Mark started bullying Charlie after trying to apologize for the frog incident that labeled Charlie as a liar, only for Charlie to spit at him.
* DragonRider: Jeremy, once Tiamat gets large enough.
* EndOfAnAge: The former magical age of the earth is implied.
* FantasticAesop
* TheFinalTemptation: In ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad'', the BigBad witch tries a last-ditch effort to persuade Jennifer to hand over her magical toad by showing her a vision of her as a [[IJustWantToBeBeautiful beautiful blonde]] and telling her that she has the power to give her the beauty she's always wanted. Just to drive the point home even further, the chapter in which this happens is titled "The Temptation of Jennifer Murdley". Jennifer manages to [[spoiler:resist the temptation when Bufo reminds her of what Mr. Elives said about "mirrors are often illusions," and she smashes the mirrors and the witch with her giant tongue.]]

* HideYourGays: Averted; Charlie's uncle comes out of the closet on Thanksgiving.

* ImaginaryFriend: Juliet Dove's little sister Clarice has Mr. Toe, a giant big toe with eyes (and hands, but only for their neighbor Arturo). Temporarily crosses over into NotSoImaginaryFriend territory when [[spoiler: the goddess Athena]] pretends to be Mr. Toe in order to have Clarice help her write a note for Juliet.
* JerkassRealization: Jeremy's art teacher when Jeremy asks, "Why do you hate me?" after trying to confess about the hot foot. This doesn't make him any more pleasant, however, just civil.
* KarmaHoudini:
** Jeremy's art teacher suffers little to no comeuppance for bullying him, blaming the entire class for a case of his foot getting set on fire (which was Jeremy's fault but also not the point) and being a SadistTeacher. The only good thing he does in the book is wish Jeremy good luck on going to middle school after a JerkassRealization.
** Mark suffers nothing for stealing the Skull of Truth from the podium when Charlie used Yorick to out his father, or for getting Charlie in trouble when they were younger. He doesn't even have the nerve to apologize for setting a gang of kids on Charlie at the beginning of the book.

* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday: The premise of the series basically.

* LoveIsInTheAir: In ''Juliet Dove, Queen of Love'', Juliet comes into possession of a necklace formerly owned by Helen of Troy. The necklace causes every boy in her school to fall in love with her (and cause a commotion by piling up in front of her house), and [[ClingyMacGuffin cannot be removed after being put on]].

* MeaningfulName:
** Juliet: [[ShoutOut Referencing]] ''RomeoAndJuliet''.
** Tiamat: The dragon that created the world in Mesopotamian mythology. One of the few in universe as well, as Jeremy explicitly names his pet dragon after the mythological one. Mr. Elives even compliments him on it when he eventually finds out, though he says that Tiamat must have had an ego for wanting that namesake.
** S.H. Elives spells out "She Lives". [[WildMassGuessing Hmmm...]]
*** WordOfGod is that he's a moon wizard. The moon is typically regarded as female.
*** Mr. Elives also sounds exactly like 'mystery lives' when read aloud.
* {{Metamorphosis}}: ''The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones'' is not actually a perfect example, despite the title. Justin gradually grows wings and gains the ability to fly, but he reverts back to normal after a night. He doesn't know this when he starts out, though.
* NakedPeopleTrappedOutside: In ''The Monster's Ring'', when Russell uses the ring wrong and gets {{Shapeshifter Mode Lock}}ed, the transformation actually makes him burst into flames, burning up his clothes. He eventually gets his human form back, but his clothes are gone for good. Fortunately it's very early morning, and he manages to race back home ''mostly'' unseen. (He tells his parents some older kids stole his clothes and burned them as a prank.)

* OrwellianRetcon: ''The Monster's Ring'' was revised twenty years after its original publication. Among the revisions was the addition of an appearance from the rats Jerome and Roxanne, who tell Russell off for trying to find Elives' shop again when he doesn't really need to - he has the directions for his purchase, and that's really all he needs now.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: They speak telepathically using colours and they're fond of milk.
* PassingNotesInClass: In ''Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'', a girl named Mary Lou sends Jeremy a love note, but his art teacher, who has a habit of treating Jeremy poorly, snatches the note before Jeremy can even open it, then reads it aloud (and tears it up afterward), deliberately embarrassing him in front of his classmates. He also purposely doesn't say who ''sent'' the note, which Jeremy thinks to himself is probably because her father's on the school board.
* ReadTheFreakingManual: The protagonist of ''Watch Out!'' didn’t read the full manual for his latest trick (in part because his mother interrupted him before he could finish), a cave-like toy which makes things disappear (but cannot return them), which gets him in trouble when he makes his father’s watch disappear and can’t get it back. The gnome that the "disappearing" objects are sent to notes that nine out of ten people who use it are the same way.

* ShapeshifterModeLock: What happens if you turn the monster's ring three times.
* ShootTheTelevision: Jennifer Murdley was a very unattractive-looking girl. One day when she was six she was watching television and saw a commercial for a Barbie doll. Knowing she would never be as pretty as the doll, she started to cry. When her father saw her crying and realized why, he got so enraged at [=TV=] that he smashed it.

* TransformationTrinket: The monster's ring.
* TrashOfTheTitans: Jeremy's room is usually a mess, to the point where his mother's started leaving his clean laundry outside the door instead of trying to cross his floor.
* TricksterMentor: Elives, who overlaps with EccentricMentor at times.
* TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside: Jennifer Murdley is an ugly girl with a nice personality. At the climax of the story she encounters a witch who [[spoiler:offers to turn her "inside out," metaphorically speaking, so that her inner beauty will be on the outside, but upon thinking about this, Jennifer realizes that this would make her ugly on the inside, which she realizes would be worse]]. So she stays outwardly ugly (but a good person).

* WingsDoNothing: Justin wanders into Elives' Magic Shop and ends up purchasing a home magic kit thematically inspired by the metamorphosis trick of stage magic shows. Rather than switching places with an assistant, he finds that it gives him wings- which don't work. He continues to follow the instructions, but grows increasingly agitated as it's becoming harder and harder to hide them from his abusive uncle, and they still don't let him fly, so his dreams of getting away from said uncle are as kaput as ever. Fortunately for our protagonist, he manages to keep them under wraps until he's finished the process, after which they fill out and do let him fly, and by the time his uncle finds out, he's already headed out the window.

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: A non-villainous example-- when Jennifer Murdley is transformed into a toad, Bufo reassures her that she'll have no problems trying to find someone to kiss her to break the spell, as she's "an exceptionally good-looking toad." Given that Jennifer's at that awkward stage and constantly agonizes over her looks, her reaction to Bufo's sincere compliment is less than positive, to his utter confusion.

Books in the series include: ''The Monster's Ring'', ''Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'', ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad'', ''The Skull of Truth'', ''Juliet Dove, Queen of Love''. Also in this series are the short stories ''The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones'', ''Watch Out!'' and ''The Mask of Eamonn Tiyado''.

Books in the series include: ''The Monster's Ring'', ''Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'', ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad'', ''The Skull of Truth'', ''Juliet Dove, Queen of Love''. Also in this series are the short stories ''The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones'' and ''Watch Out!''.

* DragonRider: Once Tiamat gets large enough.

* TheFinalTemptation: In ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad'', the BigBad witch tries a last-ditch effort to persuade Jennifer to hand over her magical toad by showing her a vision of her as a [[IJustWantToBeBeautiful beautiful blonde]] and telling her that she has the power to give her the beauty she's always wanted. Just to drive the point home even further, the chapter in which this happens is titled "The Temptation of Jennifer Murdley".

** Tiamat: The dragon that created the world in Mesopotamian mythology. One of the few in universe as well, as Jeremy explicitly names his pet dragon after the mythological one. Mr. Elives even compliments him on it when he eventually finds out.

* PassingNotesInClass: In ''Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'', a girl sends Jeremy a love note, but his art teacher, who has a habit of treating Jeremy poorly, snatches the note before Jeremy can even open it, then reads it aloud (and tears it up afterward), deliberately embarrassing him in front of his classmates. He also purposely doesn't say who ''sent'' the note, which Jeremy thinks to himself is probably because her father's on the school board.

* LoveIsInTheAir: In ''Literature/Juliet Dove, Queen of Love'', Juliet comes into possession of a necklace formerly owned by Helen of Troy. The necklace causes every boy in her school to fall in love with her (and cause a commotion by piling up in front of her house), and [[ClingyMacGuffin cannot be removed after being put on]].

* BeenThereShapedHistory: The Skull of Truth is actually a friend of Creator/WilliamShakespeare and the actual Yorick/skull used in ''{{Hamlet}}''.

* TruthTellingSession: Magically-induced.
* TruthSerum: The Skull of Truth acts as this.

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: A non-villainous example-- when Jennifer Murdley is transformed into a toad, Bufo reassures her that she'll have no problems trying to find someone to kiss her to break the spell, as she's "-an exceptionally good-looking toad." Given that Jennifer's at that awkward stage and constantly agonizes over her looks, her reaction to Bufo's sincere compliment is less than positive.

* MathematiciansAnswer: The personification of Truth answers Mark's question of what will happen to his father with something along the lines of "he will live, he will love, he will have successes and failures and then he will die."

** Juliet: [[ShoutOut Reference]] to ''RomeoAndJuliet''.
** Tiamat: Dragon that created the world in Mesopotamian mythology. One of the few in universe as well, as Jeremy explicitly names his pet dragon after the mythological one. Mr. Elives even compliments him on it when he eventually finds out.

* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Gilbert, a boy with leukemia, meets the personification of Truth along with his friends in ''The Skull of Truth''. They are all permitted to ask any question and receive an entirely truthful answer. Gilbert is about to ask whether or not he'll survive his leukemia, but decides [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow this is something he would rather not know]].

* WingsDoNothing: Justin wanders into Elives' Magic Shop and ends up purchasing a home magic kit thematically inspired by the metamorphosis trick of stage magic shows. Rather than switching places with an assistant, he finds that it gives him wings-which don't work. He continues to follow the instructions, but grows increasingly agitated as it's becoming harder and harder to hide them from his abusive uncle, and they still don't let him fly, so his dreams of getting away from said uncle are as kaput as ever. Fortunately for our protagonist, he manages to keep them under wraps until he's finished the process, after which they fill out and do let him fly, and by the time his uncle finds out, he's already headed out the window.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: A non-villainous example-- when Jennifer Murdley is transformed into a toad, Bufo reassures her that she'll have no problems trying to find someone to kiss her to break the spell, as she's "an exceptionally good-looking toad". Given that Jennifer's at that awkward stage and constantly agonizes over her looks, her reaction to Bufo's sincere compliment is less than positive.

* CoversAlwaysLie: At least one edition of Jennifer Murdley's Toad has a cover depicting Bufo, the toad in question, ranting to Jennifer, who on this cover is depicted as an attractive-looking blond girl. The problem is that, in the book itself, Jennifer is specifically described as being... well, not as hot as the girl on the cover, to put it mildly. The illustrations in the book, for the record, depict Jennifer as looking fairly unattractive and chubby. It's possible that the girl is meant to be Sharra, who is in fact described as blond and attractive; even so it still fits, as Sharra is a secondary character who only directly reacts to Bufo a handful of times.

* HereThereWereDragons: The vast majority moved to another dimension with the help of the wizard Bellenmore, since their native world was becoming increasingly unfriendly to dragons.

*** WordofGod is that he's a moon wizard. The moon is typically regarded as female.

Books in the series include: ''The Monster's Ring'', ''Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'', ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad'', ''The Skull of Truth'', ''Juliet Dove, Queen of Love''. Also in this series is the short story ''The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones''.

* HereThereWereDragons

** Tiamat: Dragon that created the world in Mesopotamian mythology.

* CoversAlwaysLie: At least one edition of Jennifer Murdley's Toad has a cover depicting Bufo, the toad in question, ranting to Jennifer, who on this cover is depicted as an attractive-looking blond girl. The problem is that, in the book itself, Jennifer is specifically described as being... well, not as hot as the girl on the cover, to put it mildly. The illustrations in the book, for the record, depict Jennifer as looking fairly unattractive and chubby. It's possible that the girl is meant to be Sharon, who is in fact described as blond and attractive; even so it still fits, as Sharon is a secondary character who only directly reacts to Bufo a handful of times.

* TheGump: The Skull of Truth is actually a friend of Creator/WilliamShakespeare and the actual Yorick/skull used in ''{{Hamlet}}''.

* BlessedWithSuck: Usually the things bought from the shop have some very significant drawbacks. The monster's ring will put you in ShapeshifterModeLock, the dragon hatchling is highly conspicuous and you don't get to keep it anyway, the toad comes with an evil sorceress trying to reobtain it, the skull literally ''forces'' you to tell the truth no matter the circumstances, and the love charm makes all members of the opposite sex obsess insanely over you ([[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered style]]). Only the sleeping bag doesn't come with a massive amount of suck along with its bless, and even then, probably because there wasn't a whole book to explore it. The only drawback of the sleeping bag is that it forces you to choose between [[NotAllowedToGrowUp never growing up]] and returning to the arguably CrapsackWorld.

* {{Clingy MacGuffin}}: Helen of Troy's amulet.

* TheGump: The Skull of Truth is actually a friend of {{Shakespeare}} and the actual Yorick/skull used in ''{{Hamlet}}''.

* MeaningfulName:

*** WordofGod is that he's a moon wizard. The moon is typically regarded as female.

* {{Immortality}}: The Immortal Vermin (including toad Bufo and the rats Roxanne and Jerome) have Type II immortality, as they will live forever unless they are killed by some outside force (such as creatures that naturally prey on toads, snakes, spiders, rats, lizards and other such things).

A series by BruceCoville about a [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday little shop that wasn't there yesterday]] run by a kooky old magician who sells magical items to children, preteens and teenagers in order to [[AnAesop teach them life lessons]].

* {{Gotterdammerung}}: Said to have happened long ago when people started over hunting dragons, unicorns and the like.