Sooty is being offered with a number of other items including a magic wand, books, badges and rosettes.

BBC: Sooty from Matthew Corbett's last stage show auctioned

My kids have entered that nebulous no-mans-zone known as the middle grade (or tween) years: too old for simple chapter books (like The Magic Tree House series), but too young to demolish YA books about vampires by the dozen.

FORBES: Not Ready for Vampires? Laurel Snyder Writes Great Books for Tweens

Units can also find or build magic items such as weapons or books.

CNN: Tsar: Burden of the Crown treads familiar ground

Of course, there are the stories of the writers who self-publish and magic happens and they sell millions of books, but those are the rare exceptions.

FORBES: Thinking of Self-Publishing Your Book in 2013? Here's What You Need to Know.

The midfielder, whose contract expires at the end of the season, will pen five books, called Frankie's Magic Football, for children aged five and above.

BBC: Frank Lampard signs children's book deal

Physical books made money, and parents seemed like they were magic.

FORBES: Future Of Kids' Books: Animation Starring You

The author recently spoke with The Wall Street Journal about novel writing's black magic, the ordeal her hometown went through this past week and the books she reads when nobody's looking.

WSJ: Claire Messud's Furious Follow-Up

He bought thousands of books including works on music, mathematics, astronomy, history, geography, magic, theology and philosophy.

ECONOMIST: Spanish empire