Sherman, Delia. The Evil Wizard Smallbone.

Sherman, Delia.  The Evil Wizard Smallbone.  Candlewick Press  2016           408p  $17.99  ISBN 978-0-7636-8805-9    ms       Fantasy  E-BN           

Nick has run away from his abusive uncle and is caught in the middle of a blizzard.  With no other place to go and being chased by a wolf pack, he bangs on the door of the house of one Zachariah Smallbone, proprietor of Evil Wizard Books in Smallbone Cove, Maine.  He is allowed to stay as Smallbone’s apprentice… as long as he convinces the Wizard that he cannot read.  As time goes on, Nick discovers more and more magic as he surreptitiously reads through Smallbone’s bookstore.  He becomes involved with the weird characters that live in the town and helps protect it from those that try to attack it from the outside.

The magical tale unfolds gradually and believably, vividly evoking the strange atmosphere of the town.  This is engaging, suspenseful, well-written fantastical fiction with excellent characterizations and a well-paced plot.  It is sure to appeal to those devotees of another young wizard in the making and will appeal to a wide variety of young readers.

Summary: Nick has run away from his abusive uncle when he stumbles into the Evil Wizard bookstore in Smallbone Cove, Maine.  He’s allowed to stay and apprentice with the Wizard as long as he pretends he cannot read.  This is engaging, suspenseful, well-written fantastical fiction with excellent characterizations and a well-paced plot.  It is sure to appeal to those devotees of another young wizard in the making.   
           

Wizards-Fiction                                                                                                          —Susan Ogintz

Thompson, Paul B. The Brightworking. (Brightstone Saga)

Thompson, Paul B.  The Brightworking. (Brightstone Saga)           Enslow  160p  $17.95 978-0-7660-3950-6  2012                  ms/jr       VG-BN    Fantasy                                 

Mikal is apprenticed to a powerful wizard with strange ambitions.  Will Mikal follow his master or stand against him?   Mikal is learning the blacksmith’s trade when the Guild of Constant Working tests all the youngsters in his village and “gleans” him. Following a harrowing journey from his rural home to the capital city, Mikal becomes friends with street-wise Lyra, is apprenticed to the powerful (but evil) wizard Harlano, and is caught up in events that threaten to destroy the kingdom of Phalia.

The plot moves forward at a rapid clip; the emphasis is on the action, and it ends with a cliffhanger.  As the novel was written with reluctant readers in mind, this approach will appeal to that audience.  Certainly, reluctant readers will empathize with Mikal, who struggles to learn to read without tutelage in order to learn magic and organize Harlano’s extensive library.  The pacing does not allow for any in-depth character development, but many engaging characters are introduced against an intriguing setting.  Mikal’s mentor is a magical talking head he calls “Orry“ (which stays close-lipped for all others save Mikal).  Harlano ,the “evil” wizard, seems more distracted and caught up in his own agenda than wicked and vindictive in his dealings with Mikal.  Lyra might clean up into a love interest in a future installment, but in this story she is a street-savvy urchin focused on her own practical needs, as well as Mikal’s.

Paul Thompson is the author of several Dragonlance novels.  Brightworking is the first of the forthcoming fantasy trilogy The Brightstone Saga.  I look forward to reading The Fortune Teller (an excerpt is included in the first volume) and seeing how this story unfolds.
Fantasy-Fiction, Wizards-Fiction                                                                                                                 --Hilary Welliver