![]() ![]() First-time novelist Lauren Magaziner fashions a rich and compelling alternative reality in the seaside town of Gliverstoll, where humans embrace the local witches as tourist attractions but fear them as supernatural conjurers. ![]() ![]() What follows is a rollicking tale of two young rebels who take on witches, interspecies prejudice and good, old-fashioned parental cluelessness. The interview is challenging, and Rupert blows the question, "What's five plus monkey?" (Giraffe.) But he gets two plus three (Honeybee) and, despite the witchling's somewhat abrupt goodbye - "Go now, before I bake you into pudding" - he lands the job. The witch in question, Witchling Two, is about his age, with a sweet round face, horrendous spell-casting skills and a deep-seated fear of bunnies. Rupert desperately needs something to go right in his life, and it does, he thinks, when he answers an ad for a witch's apprentice. Pass a note in class? You'll have to stand on your head until you turn purple. Science class consists of digging for a paper clip hidden somewhere in the town dump. Frabbleknacker, smells like belly-button lint and makes her students dissect the frogs they're supposed to keep as classroom pets. Rupert Campbell's fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. ![]()
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