The book without words by Avi

A couple of weeks ago I went book shopping and I selected heaps of terrific new books for my school library especially some titles for my Senior Primary children in Grades 5 and 6.

Over the next few blogs I will report on these exciting new books. I can’t wait to read them all!!!

Last night I finished reading The book without words. What I hear you say how could you possibly read a book without words? Well it wasn’t easy. No seriously this is a fabulous title from one of my favourite authors Avi . It was first published in 2005 but I have only just discovered it.

This is your classic story of greed, magic, potions and true heroism. The book without words can only be read by people with green eyes and strong desires. Sybil, her friend Odo the talking raven and Alfric must work together to thwart the evil powers of the magician Thorston who seeks immortality.

My favourite scene is quite early in the book as Thorston is making the potion which contains the four stones he needs for immortality. One special ingredient is the life breath of a young girl. This breath comes from our heroine Sybil. “He bent over the sleeping girl. With a quick, scooping gesture, he caught up a fistful of her sleepy breath – a hand bowl as it were, of her life. He clapped his other hand over it, trapping it.”.

My copy of this book has some terrific extras such as discussion questions, a glossary and an interview with Avi. I even learnt a new word in this story – reeve. He is a man who works for the mayor and from what I can discover this word is still used in Canada.