Simple and a quick read...good message (depending on your perspective, I suppose) to love all creatures and have empathy.

ISBN 0590132059 - It seems like every childrens' book I read these days has something to merit a note for the crazy parents. This one is no different. If you're a parent who thinks magic is somehow linked to evil, pass this one up. If you're a parent who's going to be bothered by an anti-hunting message (for real, they exist), go read something else.

The nameless narrator of The Magic Finger tells a story about her neighbors, the Greggs, who enjoy hunting for sport - much to her dismay. Having begged them to stop, she reaches the end of her rope and "puts the magic finger on them all!" in anger. The next morning, the family has begun to turn into ducks, growing wings where their arms had been. At first, the idea of flying makes this change somewhat appealing, but that changes quickly as the Greggs spot four ducks moving into their house - leaving them without food or shelter! They must learn to fend for themselves as ducks until an agreement is reached with the new "people" living in their house.

There's more than one message in this book - first, the repercussions of not controlling your anger, as our narrator discovers when her magic finger is the cause of more than one incident. Second, the anti-hunting theme, which doesn't state that no one should ever hunt. It just says the girl is bothered by the Greggs' hunting for fun. Third, the family reaches an understanding of how the ducks felt, showing that at least trying to see things from someone else's viewpoint is good. There's plenty here, in this tiny book, to talk about with your child! Worth a read for parent and child alike.

It's a highly imaginative story about a little girl who cannot bear to see her neighbor's kill wild animals. So she turns them into the very animals that they were hunting.

Since our neighbors are hunters, I warned the boys not to use their magic fingers!

This is the story of the Gregg's...mostly of the male Gregg's, the father, his son's and their love of hunting. When their unnamed 8 year old neighbor gets fed up with asking them nicely to stop killing birds and deer, she does the only thing she can...she uses the Magic Finger on them. We learn exactly what result befell the teacher how dared tell her what a stupid little girl she thought our nameless girl was in front of the whole class...and now it's the Gregg's turn to find out what it means to get the Magic Finger...I bet it's a lesson they won't soon forget! This is a fairly short book, slim on the characterization...but with loads of quirks and twists that make for a good fun read! Just the right length that we could all enjoy it and the Magic Finger would also make a fine read aloud book (for reading over a couple of nights). I give it a B+, great fun for young readers with just the right amount of hilarity to go with the lesson being taught here.