The Magic Walking Stick is a 1932 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, his only novel for children. The first edition was illustrated by John Morton Sale [as is this 1953 edition]. The novel relates the adventures of Bill, an English schoolboy from a wealthy family. When Bill returns home from his boarding school for his autumn half-term break, his fathers keeper offers to take him duck shooting on the familys estate. On the way, he meets a little wizened old man in a green coat sitting under a hornbeamapparently invisible to the keeperwho sells him a stick for a farthing. Bill discovers that by twisting the stick and making a wish he has the power to go magically wherever he desires. Bill rises early to try out the stick again and wishes himself in the Solomon Islands. He finds himself on a beautiful beach of blinding white sands, though the natives are unfriendly and Bill has to return home in a hurry. His next chance to try the stick is in the Christmas holiday, and