Apothecary by Maile Meloy

Here is a puzzle.  How are the following things connected with this book The Apothecary?

Here is the answer :

• The School Library Journal reviewer Elizabeth Bird began her review by saying she loved the cover of The Apothecary.  This made me curious.  I really like the cover too.
• Ian Schoenherr is the cover designer of The Apothecary so I read about him and discovered :
• Ian Schoenherr is the son of John Schoenherr and :
• John Schoenherr is the award winning illustrator of one of my most favourite picture books of all time Owl Moon.
• Then I investigated the author Maile Meloy and discovered :
• Maile Meloy is the sister of Colin Meloy author of Wildwood which I had already read and reviewed

Sometimes the world of children's books can feel like one big family.

Janie lives in California.  The year is 1952.  It is the McCarthy era and the cold war has begun. Benjamin lives in London.  His neighbourhood has been bombed during World War II and while he and his dad do survive his mum is killed. Mr Burrows, Benjamin's dad (the apothecary) explains :

"Your mum had nursing skills and worked for the Women's Voluntary Service. She was out after the air raid was over, helping to see who was hurt, when the bomb suddenly went off ... she was killed instantly."

Benjamin and Janie meet when Janie's family move to London to get away from appearing before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Benjamin does not want to follow his father and work in a pharmacy or Apothecary.  He would much rather be a spy but what he does not know is that he has been spying on men connected with is own father and his father is involved with trying to save the world from the atom bombs which are being developed by Russia and USA. Yes this is all quite huge.  Janie, Benjamin and another friend named Pip are now on a mission to save the world especially as Benjamin's father appears to have disappeared and the children stumble upon a murder and it seems their Latin teacher is really a Russian spy.  Added to all this is the alchemy.  As he is about to be captured his dad gives Benjamin an ancient book - the Pharmocopoeia.  It contains the formula for potions to turn into a bird, make people invisible, force others to tell the truth and wipe memory.

As you can see this book is a combination of history and magic.  Not quite Science Fiction but almost.  The final scenes are quite thrilling and open the way for the sequels.

I do highly recommend The Apothecary and I would follow this up with The Seven Professors of the far North.  Another book you will enjoy is Disappearing act.  If you want to read more about alchemy take a look at The Book without Words.

The Apothecary is the first of this trilogy as I mentioned so we now need to add the other two titles to our school library.  I have listed this book for Senior Primary but I also think it would appeal to a junior high school reader.  Teaching notes, an extract and authors details can be found on the publisher site. Here are some reviews :

Kirkus
New York Times
Kids Reads

Disappearing act by James Moloney

Disappearing Act.  This book has it all!  An intriguing plot.  A very recognizable Australian setting. Magic and mystery. History and flashbacks. Love and loathing. Alchemy and science. Greed and the urgent search for truth and justice.  All of this is contained in just 181 pages!

Matt Cooper finds a book in a language he does not recognize with detailed drawings showing the process for a series of magic tricks. Matt tries out the tricks, simple ones at first, and discovers he has a talent.  When he visits a city dentist with his mother he sees an old man writing phrases in chalk on the footpath.  He has no idea what this writing says but he recognizes the letters from his magic book and so he takes a piece of chalk and completes the phrase (see below).  The old man is ecstatic.  "I've waited so long - a whole lifetime."

The next chapter of Disappearing Act sees the action switch to 1946.  We meet Mattheus Coperneau, a magician who has been given the honour of presenting a special performance before the royal family of Montilagus.

"Europe is not one country, but dozens of them.  Everyone has heard of Germany and France and Italy, but if you study the map closely you will see tiny specks among the larger ones, like pebbles in a rock wall.  These countries were never important enough to deserve a king and so they make do with princes.  That's why they are called principalities."

In a grand finale to his magic show Mattheus makes the Royal Sceptre disappear.  Naturally the second half of this trick should mean the sceptre reappears to the sound of great relief and applause but on this occasion the trick has failed and the sceptre is gone.  Magic is not to blame.  This is a crime but with no one else to accuse Mattheus is sent to the dungeon.  Chapters in this book now alternate between Australia 2011 and Montilagus in 1889.  At this earlier time Prince Edvord of Montilagus sees power coming from gold.  He enlists the help of a scientist called Joachim Tassisalus and an alchemist Augustine Rey.  Joachim knows alchemy is just trickery but the prince is determined there must be a way to turn ordinary metals into gold.

Look closely at these names Matthew Cooper and Mattheus Coperneau.  The story of Joachim and his love of Princess Agneta is also linked with Matthew Cooper but I don't want to go into these details and spoil the terrific twist at the end of this complex and highly rewarding read.

I will make one of my predictions that this book will be short listed for our CBCA awards in 2015. I do hope I am right!

Here is a set of teaching notes.  If you enjoy this book you might also look for The book without Words by Avi,   This book also reminded me of The Medici Curse. You can read more about James Moloney here.

Only the heart knows magic is real.

Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

Have you ever played that game where someone hides an object under a cup and then moves three or four upended cups and you try to keep track so you can locate the cup with the object after all the twists and turns?  This book reminded me of this game.  Liesl's father has died in very suspicious circumstances and after cremation his ashes are stored in an old box.  Mr Gray "The Atelier of gray. Body Disposal, corpses, animal and human parts (since 1885)",  of  has run out of urns and since the rich widow Mrs Morbower has paid him so well Mr Gray has had to sacrifice his mother's old wooden jewelry box.  Meanwhile the alchemist has made his greatest magic.  He has entrusted is lowly apprentice Will to carry it to Lady Premiere. The magic has been placed in wooden box about the size of a loaf of bread.  Finally, in a remote farm house, someone has stored some potato flour in another wooden box.  Three boxes that will change hands and alter the destiny of all involved.

Liesl has been locked in the attic of her home ever since her stepmother, Mrs Morbower, conspired to murder her husband and claim the family fortune.  Two ghosts called Po and Bundle have come from the other side to visit Liesl.  Po is enchanted by Liesl's lovely drawings. Liesl asks Po to find her father and later Po delivers an important message :

"He said that he should never have eaten the soup, ... He said that he must go home.  He must go back to the place of the willow tree. He said that he will be able to rest then. He said you would bring him there."

And so Liesl, Po, Bundle and Will get caught up in a race to take the ashes to the Willow Tree chased by Augusta Morbower, Lady Premiere, an old lady they meet on a train who has decided these children are criminals and a policeman.  Also caught up in the chase is the warm-hearted guard from Lady Premiere's gate house who has decided Will is badly in need of a warm hat.

If you are having trouble keeping up with all of these twists and turns take a look at the book web site. I really enjoyed this book from beginning to end and I read it all in just one sitting.  Here is a great review and the trailer from the publisher.  If you enjoy this book look for The Truth about Verity Sparks as your next choice.

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.