The Magic House

April knows her house is magic--there's a waterfall down the stairs, a desert on the first floor and even two not very scary monsters in the basement. But older sister Meredith, who ``didn't believe the house was magic,'' heartlessly dissolves these fantasies with a dose of reality, telling April to stop sliding down the stairs when April believes she is playing in the waterfall. When Meredith rehearses her role as a swan for a dance recital, April helps her sister ``see'' a lake with reeds in the front hall. Meredith soon becomes ``a white swan on the beautiful blue lake in the middle of April's magic house.'' Eversole neatly pays tribute to the power of imagination in this inventive twist on sibling interdependence. The reader sees the house's imaginary landscapes through April's eyes, in soft, glowing colors; the children's faces, however, are insufficiently varied in expression and somewhat masklike. Nevertheless, this is a magical and promising first effort for both author and illustrator. Ages 4-7. (Mar.)