Literature / Magic Shop

aka: Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher

The books in this series in no particular order.

A series by Bruce Coville about a 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 teach them life lessons.

The series consists of five full-length books and three short stories:

• The Monster's Ring (1982; revised 2002)
• "Watch Out!" (1987)^note Short Story collected in Spaceships and Spells (1987) and Bruce Coville's Book of Magic: Tales to Cast a Spell on You (1996).
• Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (1991)
• Jennifer Murdley's Toad (1992)
• The Skull of Truth (1997)
• "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) and Odds Are Good: An Oddly Enough and Odder Than Ever Omnibus (2006).
• Juliet Dove, Queen of Love (2003)
• "The Mask of Eamonn Tiyado" (2008)^note Short Story collected in Oddest of All (2008).

---

This series provides examples of:

The overall series

• The Ageless: 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, also inform the protagonists of The Skull of Truth and Juliet Dove, Queen of Love of their status as "killable, but otherwise undying".
• Anachronic Order: Jennifer Murdley's phone is mentioned in Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, which was published before Jennifer Murdley's Toad. Also the dragon's egg is seen by Jennifer while she's in the shop getting her toad, implying that the books are not published in a strict chronological order.
• Blessed with Suck: Usually the things bought from the shop have some very significant drawbacks. The monster's ring can put you in Shapeshifter Mode Lock, 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 ("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 never growing up and returning to the arguably Crapsack World while knowing you have the strength to change it.
• Continuity Nod: In each book the protagonists notice certain items in the magic shop. As the series progresses, protagonists no longer describe items that featured in previous books, presumably because they're no longer there.
• End of an Age: The former magical age of the earth is implied in both Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher and Juliet Dove, Queen of Love, the former discussing how the world had become too dangerous for dragons and forcing them to leave for another dimension due to Earth becoming hostile to magic and magical beings, while the latter discusses how the gods ultimately withdrew from the world because humanity was producing the things each of the gods represented just fine on their own and hardly needed their help anymore.
• The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: The premise of the series basically. Mr. Elives' shop shows up on a street that the main character would swear didn't exist, though they were sure they knew every inch of their hometown from living there all their life.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Juliet: Referencing Romeo and Juliet.
  • 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". Hmmm...
    • Word of God 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.
• Trickster Mentor: Elives, who overlaps with Eccentric Mentor at times. He sells magical items that end up teaching the main character a lesson, but doesn't tell them ahead of time of exactly what they're getting themselves into.

The Monster's Ring

• For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Russell Crannaker twists the ring twice ("Twist it once, you're horned and haired;/Twist it twice, and fangs are bared...") shortly before the school Halloween party and lets everyone assume the result was an incredibly good costume.
• Mail-Order Novelty: While reading the ring's instructions and realizing it's supposedly magic, Russell is disgusted and thinks he's been tricked, recalling how he'd once ordered a pair of X-ray Specs from the back of a Muck Critter comic and consequently sworn off that kind of thing after they turned out to be useless.
• Naked People Trapped Outside: When Russell uses the ring wrong and gets Shapeshifter Mode Locked, 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, and Mr. Elives says that no, he doesn't care and Russell has to get out of his shop. 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.)
• Orwellian Retcon: 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.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: After misusing the ring and transforming into a demon, Russell uses his new form to terrify a gang of older bullies that have been tormenting his bully, though he doesn't actually harm them.
• Read the Freaking Manual: 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. Namely, he's stuck transforming on every full moon for the rest of his life.
• Rule of Three: "Twist it once, you're horned and haired; Twist it twice, and fangs are bared; Twist it thrice? No one has dared!" Twist it three times and you're not only stuck that way, you turn demonic.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: As Russell learns, if you turn the monster's ring three times on the night of the full moon, you're stuck until the moon sets.
• Transformation Trinket: The monster's ring, which turns the user into "a hideous monster".

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher

• Big Friendly Dog: Jeremy Thatcher's family has a large golden retriever named Grief, who's very friendly — a little too friendly, in Jeremy's opinion, given the chaos his size sometimes causes.
• Binomium ridiculus: One of Dr. Thatcher's patients at the animal hospital has the full name of "Fat Pete, Porkus Extremus", according to his owner.
• Bittersweet Ending: 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, Specimen, 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.
• Bizarre Taste in Food: Jeremy's father loves chicken livers. Jeremy, on the other hand, thinks they're slimy and doesn't understand how his father can even touch them, let alone eat them.
• Black Comedy Burst: 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.
• Body to Jewel: Dragons weep diamonds, as Jeremy discovers late in the book.
• A Boy and His X: The book is about Jeremy and the bond he forms with his pet dragon.
• Disproportionate Retribution: This is basically the whole relationship between Jeremy and his art teacher Mr. Kravitz. Said teacher has discipline with drawing but no talent, while Jeremy is unfocused in class but highly talented. So of course said teacher picks on him at any opportunity he gets, for the crime of being a kid and better than him.
• Dragon Rider: Jeremy, once Tiamat gets large enough.
• Exact Words: Mr. Elives warns Jeremy that he doesn't want the dragon egg, but charges him a quarter for it. It's because "You don't want it. It wants you." Also because Jeremy will not want to let Tiamat go when she's ready to leave.
• Heel–Face Turn: Mary Lou isn't bad per see, just thoughtless with No Social Skills. 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.
• Height Angst: Jeremy hates being short, and can't wait to grow out of it.
• Here There Were Dragons: 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.
• Heroic BSoD: 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 Specimen paint a window store display like they promised.
• Invisible to Normals: Most people are unable to see Tiamat. The only ones who can are Jeremy, who hatched her, and Mary Lou, who loves dragons (plus Mr. Elives, who isn't exactly normal, and Hyacinth Priest, who's implied to be a former Hatcher herself).
• Jerkass Realization: Jeremy's art teacher Mr. Kravitz has one when Jeremy asks, "Why do you hate me?" after trying to confess about the hotfoot. This doesn't make him any more pleasant, however, just civil.
• Karma Houdini: Jeremy's art teacher Mr. Kravitz 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 Sadist Teacher. The only good thing he does in the book is to wish Jeremy good luck on going to middle school after a Jerkass Realization.
• No Sympathy: Zigzagged with Specimen. 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.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Technically speaking. Dragons are born with their names, but since they can't communicate them to their Hatcher, said Hatcher has to provide them with one. In Jeremy's case, he writes down a list of names from dragons in literature, and asks the dragon's opinion of them. Said dragon isn't satisfied until Jeremy suggests "Tiamat", after the creator goddess from ancient Mesopotamian mythology.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Jeremy normally loves drawing. After Tiamat leaves, however, he stops drawing and spends most of the summer and autumn moping. His parents, Specimen 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.
• Our Dragons Are Different: They speak telepathically using colours and they're fond of milk.
• Passing Notes in Class: In chapter 1, a girl named Mary Lou sends Jeremy a love note, but his art teacher Mr. Kravitz, 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 Mary Lou's father's on the school board.
• Threaten All to Find One: Jeremy's art teacher Mr. Kravitz is a generally nasty person, to the point where when he's talking about the rules for the spring art contest and what he doesn't want to see, like anything fantasy-like. Jeremy ends up feeling nothing but pure anger towards him, which his dragon Tiamat picks up on, resulting in her breathing fire on Mr. Kravitz's shoe, felt by him but unseen by anyone but Jeremy and one of his other classmates. Afterwards, when Mr. Kravitz demands to know who gave him the hotfoot and nobody responds, he retaliates by banning the entire class from participating in the art contest until one of them does confess. When Jeremy eventually does, though without saying how, Mr. Kravitz lifts the ban for everyone but Jeremy.
• Trash of the Titans: 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.

Jennifer Murdley's Toad

• Bewitched Amphibians: When Bufo 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. Jennifer is relieved to find that the increased size doesn't transfer over to other people, or affect her after she changes back (and it doesn't return when she changes back into a toad herself either).
  • 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.
• Bittersweet Ending: Jennifer never truly becomes beautiful on the outside, and she loses her new toad when Bufo and his toad love decide to return to Mr. Elives. She gains more confidence in her abilities though, and replacement companions in Jerome and Roxanne. It's also implied that she's sensible enough to not tell her best friend about big secrets anymore, and her regular bully mellows after being turned into a toad for a while.
• Covers Always Lie: 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.
• The Final Temptation: Late in the story, the Big Bad witch tries a last-ditch effort to persuade Jennifer to hand over her magical toad by showing her a vision of her as a 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 resist the temptation when Bufo reminds her of what Mr. Elives said about "most mirrors are mere errors", and she smashes the mirrors and the witch with her giant tongue.
• I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Jennifer Murdley is a truly unattractive young girl. At one point when she was younger she saw a commercial for Barbie on TV and started crying. Subverted at the end of the novel, when Jennifer is shown a magical image in a mirror of how the witch can make her beautiful. All she has to do is hand over the magic toad. She destroys all of the mirrors, knowing she can never be that girl.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Bufo starts the whole "kids turning into toads" by kissing Sharra 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.
• Shoot the Television: Jennifer Murdley is a very unattractive-looking girl. At one point, she recalls how 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 the TV that he smashed it.
• Swallowed a Fly: At one point, after being transformed into a toad, Jennifer sees a fly buzzing past. Without thinking, she sticks out her tongue, snags the fly, and eats it. She spends the next few minutes trying not to throw up.
• Tongue Trauma: In 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; unlike most aspects of the transformation, it stays after she becomes human again, and it takes a while to heal up afterward.
• True Beauty Is on the Inside: Jennifer Murdley is an ugly girl with a nice personality. At the climax of the story she encounters a witch who 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).
• Voice Changeling: Bufo can make himself sound like anybody he's heard before, which comes in handy several times.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: 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.

The Skull of Truth

• Baldness Means Sickness: When Gilbert Dawkins returns from being in the hospital, he's completely bald as a result of his treatment. He later confesses to Charlie that he had cancer, and the treatment to make sure it won't come back made all his hair fall out. In the end of the book, one of the signs that he's recovering and has a hopeful future is that his hair is growing back.
• Been There, Shaped History: The Skull of Truth is actually a friend of William Shakespeare and the actual Yorick/skull from the story of Hamlet.
• Black Comedy: 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.
• The Bore: Charlie's great-aunt Hilda and great-uncle Horace, whom Charlie considers "The Two Most Boring People in the World" (and most of his family feels the same way). Unusually for the trope, Horace knows that he's boring, and hates it, which surprises Charlie when this comes out and makes him wonder if Horace's problem with being a bore is like his own compulsive lying.
• Brutal Honesty: 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.
• The Cameo: Overlapping with Continuity Nod — when Charlie looks out his window after Jerome and Roxanne leave, he sees a girl outside, who happily picks them up and then, walking away, disappears in a swirl of fog. Readers of Jennifer Murdley's Toad will realize the girl is Jennifer, who became the pair's caretaker after Bufo and Esmerelda went off together.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: 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 titular skull.
• Coming-Out Story: For Charlie's uncle Bennie, who comes out of the closet on Thanksgiving during the family's sudden Truth-Telling Session. His sister, brother-in-law and Charlie's Gramma Ethel all knew and weren't bothered, though Charlie's great-aunt and great-uncle don't take it well. Charlie's not entirely comfortable, but he still loves his uncle anyway.
• Community-Threatening Construction: 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.
• Dem Bones: Yorick the skull, the titular character of the book. He's immobile, but telepathic.
• Disproportionate Retribution: 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.
• Everyone Knew Already: Charlie's family (at least, his parents and grandmother) congratulates his uncle for coming out of the closet. Charlie's parents, in particular, said they were waiting for him to be ready to tell them.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Mark was the reason that Charlie got labeled as a liar when they were kids, and continues to bully him in the present. 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 got the former in trouble.
• Literal Genie: Near the end of the adventure, the embodiment of Truth offers to truthfully answer any one question for each of the main characters. Mark 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 Mark complains that the answer wasn't what he wanted, Truth tells him he should have been more specific with his question.
• Littlest Cancer Patient: Gilbert, an elementary school student who's been in the hospital for a while due to being very sick. He eventually confesses to Charlie that he had cancer.
• Mathematician's Answer: 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."
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Yorick got cursed by the embodiment of Truth because he lied to her about how pretty she was. She lampshades that she's not a nice thing.
• Oracular Head: Yorick, the titular Skull of Truth, who can only tell the truth when asked a direct question.
• Rejected Apology: The reason why Charlie became a Consummate Liar 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 labeled as a liar.
• Self-Serving Memory: While Mark bears the brunt of the responsibility for his and Charlie's broken friendship (he did lie, and certainly didn't have to start bullying Charlie afterwards, after all), Charlie is not entirely innocent, as he spat at Mark when he tried to apologize after the frog incident. Charlie legit does not remember doing this until Mark brings it up years later.
• Sticky Fingers: Inverted; Charlie was compelled to steal Yorick because Yorick wanted to escape with him and planted the suggestion in his head.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Charlie became a Consummate Liar since no one would believe whatever he said anyway after the frog incident.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Gilbert, a boy with leukemia, meets the personification of Truth along with his friends. They are all permitted to ask any question and receive an entirely truthful answer. Gilbert is implied to be about to ask whether or not he'll survive his leukemia, but decides this is something he would rather not know.
• Truth Serum: Charlie comes 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 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.
• Truth-Telling Session: A truth-telling session happens around a Thanksgiving dinner table because the family is supernaturally compelled to be truthful due to Yorik's presence.

Juliet Dove, Queen of Love

• Alternative Character Interpretation: In-Universe. Late in the book, Juliet's tormentor Bambi reveals that she and most of her other classmates think Juliet is stuck-up and snooty, acting like she's better than everyone. Juliet is in fact very shy (and tends to lash out verbally from sheer panic, just to turn attention away from herself, often before she can think about what she's saying), which she confesses to Bambi, much to the other girl's surprise and disbelief.
• Clingy MacGuffin: Helen of Troy's amulet. The only one who can remove it (and then only after certain conditions are met) is its creator — the goddess Aphrodite.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: All members of the opposite sex become this when you put on Helen of Troy's amulet.
• Cue the Flying Pigs: When Juliet is asked if she'll recite a poem at their town's annual Valentine's Day Poetry Jam, she responds with "When rats fly!" A few days later, the talking rats Roxanne and Jerome wake up with wings (It Makes Sense in Context — they'd become temporary avatars of Cupid's power), and Juliet does indeed wind up reciting a poem at the Poetry Jam.
• Curse Escape Clause: Juliet Dove gets a magic locket stuck around her neck. Because the locket magically causes all men to become obsessed with her 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". 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.
• Didn't Think This Through: Played for Laughs. All the Dove children are required by their father, a literature professor, to memorize one poem a month, but their mother took the kids' side in insisting that they be able to choose which poems they learn... not quite thinking about the fact that one of said children is a young boy with "enough Shel Silverstein already tucked away in his head to carry him through the next three years."
  Juliet suspected that Mrs. Dove had begun to regret her intervention sometime between Byron's thirtieth and fortieth recitations of "Someone Ate the Baby."
• Embarrassing Nickname: Juliet's habit of verbally lashing out from panic has earned her the nickname "Killer", which she finds embarrassing because it's based on something she doesn't mean to do.
• Imaginary Friend: 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 Not-So-Imaginary Friend territory when the goddess Athena pretends to be Mr. Toe in order to have Clarice help her write a note for Juliet.
• Immortal Immaturity: Subverted — 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. Sort of played straight with Eris, but Hera attributes this not to her long-lived nature, but rather as equivalent to any number of human adults who "never manage to grow up at all."
• Kaleidoscope Hair: Margaret Dove has a habit of changing her hair color almost every day, including to blue or green.
• Love Is in the Air: 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 cannot be removed after being put on.
• Toilet Seat Divorce: Eris threatens to invoke this if Juliet defies her:
  Eris: "You say nothing. Even so, I sense rebellion in you. So hear this, and hear it well: If you try to thwart me, I will destroy your family. Never forget that I am the goddess of discord. Strife is my art form. I have a thousand, thousand tiny ways to drive a wedge between two humans. You think your mother and father love each other? Let's see what happens after the hundredth argument about who misplaced the keys, or left the top off the toothpaste, or didn't put the milk back in the refrigerator. Those are just the seeds, of course. From such moments, properly nourished, I can raise a crop of bitter, blistering anger that no love can survive."
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Briefly discussed but averted with Juliet's little brother Byron — the Dove parents were once worried about how his all his artistic endeavors involved drawings of explosions, war and death, but his third-grade teacher assured them every single class she had ever taught included multiple boys with similar artistic proclivities, and that as far as she knew "all but one" had since grown into perfectly normal, non-violent adults.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Juliet Dove's older sister Margaret has two slugs (including Smitty, her first) and three snails, whom she keeps in what she calls a "Sluggarium".

The short stories

• Clingy Costume: The titular mask from "The Mask of Eamonn Tiyado", if you break the rules (such as eating or drinking while wearing it). Fortunately, Eamonn Tiyado himself can get it back off.
• 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.
• Read the Freaking Manual: 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.
• Wings Do Nothing: In "The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones", 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.

---