You might recognize Alexander Key as the author of Escape to Witch Mountain (1968), his best-known book, in which two telepathic kids set of on a desperate quest to find their true home and their own people, pursued by evil men who want to exploit their gifts. The Magic Meadow has similar themes, but isn't as good, which is why you've probably never heard of it.
Five bedridden children considered incurable are left to languish in an urban state hospital that's about to be condemned. The only escape they have is in imagining other places...and one such place is a beautiful, peaceful meadow. Turns out the power of their imagining is enough to teleport them there, along with the one nurse who cares about them (a black woman, who is also anxious to escape). It's a rather desperate race for everyone to get out, as the kid who imagined the meadow has to teleport the others one at a time, and none of them are mobile (except the nurse, who is understandably worried about practicalities, and is able to assemble some supplies).
Five bedridden children considered incurable are left to languish in an urban state hospital that's about to be condemned. The only escape they have is in imagining other places...and one such place is a beautiful, peaceful meadow. Turns out the power of their imagining is enough to teleport them there, along with the one nurse who cares about them (a black woman, who is also anxious to escape). It's a rather desperate race for everyone to get out, as the kid who imagined the meadow has to teleport the others one at a time, and none of them are mobile (except the nurse, who is understandably worried about practicalities, and is able to assemble some supplies).
In the sun of the meadow, their bodies become magically stronger (not an all at once miracle cure, but still bona fide magical healing). But will this meadow, and the larger landscape, be a place that will sustain them? There is a beautifully built building, with no clear purpose, that has lights but no electricity, and no road leading to it, and there are no other signs of people.
Yes, the children are happy, but there is an undercurrent of fear in the pastoral landscape-the strange shelter raises many questions, and there is constant anxiety about food....Should they set out to try to find other people (they are still too weak to walk far in a day), or stay put, risking starvation, and with a scary creature prowling outside at night....
I read it in a single quick siting, and almost liked it, especially the practical survival side of things which I would have liked more off. But I am too old and cynical for the ending, in which contact is made by the locals who are over the top harmonious and utopian. And disappointed that we never got to read anything past the first contact to see if there was anything of substance beneath the beautiful singing of passing bands of flying children etc.
And a bit let down actually that it turns out they'd time travelled to the future. This is a case of "time travel as explanation for strange new place" and it's not my favorite subgenre unless the shock of cultural difference is explored in greater depth than it was here (this was the shallow end of the shallow end).
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Hold up, how am I only now discovering Escape to Witch Mountain is a book?? The original movie was one of my favourites growing up! We had it recorded on VHS and the ending had gotten cut off so it was always quite mysterious to me... it sounds like I should skip The Magic Meadow and go straight to Witch Mountain, haha.
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