Genre: Modern Fantasy
Awards: 2002 Nominee for the Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award
Summary: Mangus the Magician has been forced to recant his magic and Fabrizio, his trusted assistant, has decided to stand by his master. The story opens with Fabrizio laying out his tarot cards to a distubing reading and, if this were not enough, there is a knock at the door. The magician, Mangus is being summoned to the castle.
Both Mangus and Fabrizio are surprised to learn that the reason for the summons is that the princess claims to be haunted by a ghost and Mangus is called to rid the castle of the ghost. While trying to solve the problem, the pair are drawn into a mess of conspiracy and murder which seems to involve everyone in the castle. They also are caught in a time restraint as the princess is due to marry the evil Count in only a few days.
This is truely a historical fiction mystery wrapped in a ghost story!
Reaction: Now this was a satisfying fantasy! Not only was it a fantasy story, but it also had aspects of historical fiction and mystery. Avi is a fantastic writer and this story kept me turning the pages. I loved this book.
Recommended to: I think that this book would be appealing to students from grades 5 - 10. It has aspects of many genres that students love and, with a male main chatacter, this would be a great title to recommend to boys.
Book Talk Hook: Do you enjoy reading fantastic historical fiction? mystery? or ghost stories? All of these genres are represented in this incredible book by a prolific author.
3 comments:
I enjoy good fantasy told in a historically believable time, so this book sounds good to me. If it is at all like Eragon or Harry Potter it would be easy to hook children on this book.
I've had the chance to meet Avi when we brought him in for OELMA some years ago. He is a terrific writer and I've read lots of his books - but not this one. Sounds good. Would it make a good read aloud?
I saw Avi when he visited the Dayton Public library several years ago, and I enjoyed listening to him talk about his books. I have read Midnight Magic and enjoyed it very much. His Poppy series is very popular with the fifth and sixth graders.
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