History Literature / MagicShop

* 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.

* 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.
* CommunityThreateningConstruction: In ''The Skull of Truth'', Harley Evans wants to drain Tucker's Swamp and build an "industrial park", really a collection of factories. Initially, much of the town is all for it (and some still are even after the truth about it comes out). In truth, it could mess up the town's water tables, cause several wells to go dry and two species to go extinct, and the project is in violation of several federal wetlands laws. On finding this out, many people turn against the project, ending the threat it poses.

* EveryoneKnewAlready: Charlie's family congratulates his uncle for coming out of the closet. His parents, in particular, said they were waiting for him to be ready to tell them.

* KarmaHoudini: 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.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Mark was the reason that Charlie got labeled as a liar when they were kids, and continues to bully him for spitting at him. The main book features his father trying to build factories, eventually getting outed as a liar, in turn, thanks to Yorick's truth-telling powers.
While Mark steals the skull out of spite, it's too late; his dad will probably get in trouble with the law, potential investors, and his neighbors. Mark finds that he can't handle being compelled to handle the truth all the time and insists on giving the skull back to Charlie. Charlie can't help but feel a little satisfied that Mark found telling the truth all the time uncomfortable after their lies for the former in trouble.
* LiteralGenie: Near the end of ''The Skull of Truth'', the embodiment of Truth offers to truthfully answer any one question for each of the main characters. One of the characters asks about his father's future and the answer Truth gives him is something along the lines of, "He will grow old. He will be happy. He will be sad. He will die." When the character complains that the answer wasn't what he wanted, Truth tells him he should have been more specific with his question.
* LittlestCancerPatient: Gilbert from ''The Skull of Truth''.

* 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 this is something he would rather not know.
* TruthSerum: ''The Skull of Truth'' has the main character come into possession of a talking skull that forces him to speak only the truth. He finds out, though, that there are different levels of truth (apparently jesters and poets are better at [[SarcasticConfession telling the truth more obtusely]] than others), and ultimately comes face-to-face with Truth him/her/itself, who describes itself as both destroyer and healer. At the end, the protagonist is gifted with the ability to compel people to tell the truth, whether they want to or not.
* TruthTellingSession: In ''The Skull of Truth'', a truth-telling session happens around a Thanksgiving dinner table because the family is supernaturally compelled to be truthful.

* BittersweetEnding: Jeremy has to give up Tiamat, just as he's running out of money to buy her food. He spends most of the summer and the fall miserable about losing her, worrying his parents, Spencer, and Mary Lou. On Halloween, however, Tiamat reaches out to him and promises they'll always have their mind-link, and she will use it to share her nights flying in her new home.

* HeroicBSOD: Jeremy after he has to send Tiamat away. His parents are even worried when he stops drawing, and when he doesn't want to help Spencer paint a window store display like they promised.

* NoSympathy: Zigzagged with Spencer. He doesn't have any when Jeremy confesses about being responsible for the hotfoot, thinking it's fair punishment that Jeremy is disqualified from the art contest. When Jeremy actually refuses to help him work on the window display that was the prize, however, he gets worried because Jeremy ''never'' gives up on drawing.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Jeremy normally loves drawing. After Tiamat leaves, however, he stops drawing and spends most of the summer and autumn moping. His parents, Spencer and Mary Lou get worried. Mary Lou is the only one who knows why he's sad but doesn't know how to comfort him. No one can coax him back into picking up his pencils until Tiamat reactivates their mind link on Halloween.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Bufo starts the whole "kids turning into toads" by kissing Shana out of spite for her bullying Jennifer. Cue her friends and brothers getting transformed in turn, with the witch using the situation to get her hands on Bufo.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Margaret Dove has a habit of changing her hair color almost every day, including to blue or green.

* ImmortalImmaturity: Subverted -- [[spoiler: many of the Greco-Roman gods have matured significantly in the time since their myths took place. Hera specifically clarifies that they are not in fact immortal -- though they believed it of themselves at the time -- merely extremely long-lived, and their actions that are recorded in myth occurred during their equivalent of adolescence, which lasted much longer than that of humans. And just like many humans, they have since grown up and come to look back on their thoughtless actions during that time with shame and regret.]] Played straight with [[spoiler: Eris, who Hera sadly notes possesses "the very human trait of never managing to grow up at all."]]

* 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.

* ReadTheFreakingManual: Russell read but didn't pay attention to the final warning for the Monster's Ring - don't twist it three times, and ''never'' use it on the full moon. He breaks both rules in the end, with permanent consequences. [[spoiler:Namely, he's stuck transforming on every full moon for the rest of his life.]]

* TongueTrauma: [[spoiler:At the climax, Jennifer - at this point a giant toad - smashes multiple mirrors with her tongue. By the time she's finished, she notes her tongue is bleeding and covered with cuts.]]

* 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.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Mark was the reason that Charlie got labeled as a liar when they were kids, and continues to bully him for spitting at him. The main book features his father trying to build factories, eventually getting outed as a liar, in turn, thanks to Yorick's truth-telling powers. While Mark steals the skull out of spite, it's too late; his dad will probably get in trouble with the law, potential investors, and his neighbors. Mark finds that he can't handle being compelled to handle the truth all the time and insists on giving the skull back to Charlie. Charlie can't help but feel a little satisfied that Mark found telling the truth all the time uncomfortable after their lies for the former in trouble.

* 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.

* ImmortalImmaturity: Subverted - [[spoiler: many of the Greco-Roman gods have matured significantly in the time since their myths took place. Hera specifically clarifies that they are not in fact immortal - though they believed it of themselves at the time - merely extremely long-lived, and their actions that are recorded in myth occurred during their equivalent of adolescence, which lasted much longer than that of humans. And just like many humans, they have since grown up and come to look back on their thoughtless actions during that time with shame and regret.]] Played straight with [[spoiler: Eris, who Hera sadly notes possesses "the very human trait of never managing to grow up at all."]]

* 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.

* HeelFaceTurn: Mary Lou isn't ''bad'' per see, just thoughtless with NoSocialSkills. It was her fault that Jeremy got humiliated due to her passing notes to him and their teacher being a {{Jerkass} about reading it aloud. On the other hand, if that had never happened, he never would have bought Tiamat's egg. She starts making up for her thoughtlessness when it turns out that ''she'' can see Tiamat, and starts contributing her allowance to buy milk and chicken livers for the dragon.

* BittersweetEnding: Jeremy has to give up Tiamat, just as he's running out of money to buy her food. He spends most of the summer and the fall miserable about losing her, worrying his parents, Spencer, and Mary Lou. On Halloween, however, Tiamat reaches out to her and promises they'll always have their mind-link, and she will use it to share her nights flying in her new home.

* 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.]]

* 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).

!! The overall series provides examples of:

!! ''The Monster's Ring'' provides examples of:

!! ''Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher''' provides examples of:

!! ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad'' provides examples of:

!! ''The Skull of Truth'' provides examples of:

!! ''Juliet Dove, Queen of Love'' provides examples of:

!! The short stories provide examples of:

* EveryoneKnewAlrady: Charlie's family congratulates his uncle for coming out of the closet. His parents, in particular, said they were waiting for him to be ready to tell them.

* 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 ([[Series/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.

* ExactWords: Mr. Elives warns Jeremy that he doesn't want the dragon egg, but charges him for a quarter.

* 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.

* 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. Unfortunately their eggs can't hatch there.

* 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.

* RejectedApology: The reason why Charlie became a ConsummateLiar is that he got blamed at school for Gilbert putting a frog in his mouth, when it was Mark's fault. Mark came to apologize, without confessing to the teacher about what really happened, but Charlie spat at him because by then the damage was done and Charlie was labelled as a liar.

** Juliet: [[ShoutOut Referencing]] ''RomeoAndJuliet''.

* ImmortalImmaturity: Subverted - [[spoiler: many of the Greco-Roman gods have matured significantly in the time since their myths took place. Hera specifically clarifies that they are not in fact immortal - though they believed it of themselves at the time - merely extremely long-lived, and their actions that are recorded in myth took place during essentially their equivalent of adolescence, which lasted significantly longer than that of humans. And just like many humans, they have since come to look back on their thoughtless actions during that time with shame and regret.]] Played straight with [[spoiler: Eris, who Hera sadly notes has "the very human trait of never managing to grow up at all."]]

* ImmortalImmaturity: Subverted - [[spoiler: many of the Greco-Roman gods have matured significantly in the time since their myths took place. Hera specifically clarifies that they are not in fact immortal - though they believed it of themselves at the time - merely extremely long-lived, and their actions that are recorded in myth took place during essentially their equivalent of adolescence, which lasted significantly longer than that of humans. And, just like many humans, they have since come to look back on their thoughtless actions during that time with shame and regret.]] Played straight with [[spoiler: Eris, who Hera sadly notes has "the very human trait of never managing to grow up at all."]]

* TheAgeless: The Immortal Vermin, introduced in ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad''. 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".

* ''Watch Out!'' (1987)[[note]]Short story collected in ''Spaceships and Spells'' (1987), ''Bruce Coville's Book of Magic: Tales to Cast a Spell on You'' (1996).[[/note]]

* ''The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones'' (1997)[[note]]Short story collected in ''Bruce Coville's Book of Magic II: More Tales to Cast a Spell on You'' (1997), ''Odder Than Ever'' (1999), ''Odds Are Good: An Oddly Enough and Odder Than Ever Omnibus'' (2006).[[/note]]

* ''The Mask of Eamonn Tiyado'' (2008)[[note]]Short story collected in ''Oddest of All'' (2008).[[/note]]

* 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.)