Simone Bader''s work wants to give a brief overview of children's literature in general. Moreover, it tries to show the history of MAGIC, how it developed in (children's) literature and how it is included in children's books. Another aim is to find out about different reasons why magic in children's books is so popular, to show possible ways of how MAGIC elements can be shown in books for a young audience and, most important, to explore those questions by a detailed analysis of the 3 specific children's books: ''Peter Pan'' (J.M.Barrie), ''The Witches'' (Roald Dahl) and ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (J.K. Rowling)...as well as to define the role of MAGIC in them.