Ahoy there mateys! I wanted short books with magic and I enjoyed this author's alien book so I tried these.  Basically every book has a young kid ending up in Mr. Elives' magic shop and taking home an artifact that brings an adventure.  The first book deals with a ring that turns Russell into a monster, the second with Jeremy having to raise a dragon's egg, the third with Jennifer and a talking toad, the fourth with Charlie getting a talking skull, and the fifth with Juliet getting a magic locket.  I liked the first two, loved three and four, and didn't really like five at all.  The toad book had excellent magic dealing with kissing in a silly way.  And the skull book had some seriously funny things dealing with Shakespeare that kids might not get but I sure did.  These are short and fun and I really think middle school kids would love these. Arrrr!