A boy who works for a magician meets familiar fairy tale characters when he is transported to the Land of Story in search of a missing puppet. - (Baker & Taylor)
When the magician's apprentice loses the Saint George puppet, the angry magician sends the boy to the strange Land of Story to find Saint George, and he ends up meeting--and helping--a number of familiar fairy tale characters during his quest. - (Baker & Taylor)
A Boy works for a Magician.
The Boy polishes the Magician's wands, and catches the rabbits that the Magician pulls out of hats. But the Boy's favorite job is operating the puppets for the Magician's famous puppet play, "Saint George and the Dragon" -- until one terrible day when, in the middle of a performance, the Boy can't find the Saint George puppet. The Magician is furious. He points a long magical finger at the Boy, and -- poof! -- the Boy is suddenly in the strange Land of Story, where he must find Saint George.
The Boy's hunt for Saint George is full of adventures with oddly familiar people. He saves the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe from losing her children; he spoils the wolf's plan to eat Little Red Riding Hood; and he narrowly escapes being eaten by the Giant at the top of Jack's beanstalk. But the Boy's last adventure is the most amazing of all -- and changes his life forever. No child who reads this delightful tale by master storyteller Susan Cooper is likely to forget it. - (Simon and Schuster)
Susan Cooper is one of our foremost children’s authors; her classic five-book fantasy sequence The Dark Is Rising has sold millions of copies worldwide. Her many books have won the Newbery Medal, a Newbery Honor, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and been shortlisted five times for the Carnegie Medal. She combines fantasy with history in Victory (a Washington Post Top Ten for Children novel), King of Shadows and Ghost Hawk, and her magical The Boggart and the Monster, second in a trilogy, won the Scottish Arts Council’s Children’s Book Award. Susan Cooper lives on a saltmarsh island in Massachusetts, and you can visit her online at TheLostLand.com.
Serena Riglietti has illustrated many books for children worldwide, including the Italian editions of the Harry Potter series. She lives with her family in Italy. For more information visit her Web site at www.serenariglietti.it. - (Simon and Schuster)
Booklist Reviews
Gr. 2-4. The Boy works for the Magician, but instead of learning magic, the unhappy lad weeds the garden of magic herbs, polishes the magic wands, and operates the marionettes for the puppet play "Saint George and the Dragon." One day the Boy is transformed into a character in the land of the puppet play, where he encounters well-known folks from nursery rhymes, nursery tales, and other children's classics. He acquits himself so well in this adventure that he earns a real name for himself as well as the promise of lessons from the magician. Fanciful and mildly amusing, the dreamlike story flows along smoothly through a strange yet vaguely familiar wonderland. Riglietti contributes a series of expressive, stylized illustrations. With large type, wide margins, and one sizable picture in each of the 12 chapters, the book is well designed for independent readers, but it can also be read aloud to younger children. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.
Horn Book Guide Reviews
A magician's assistant loses his master's Saint George puppet and is banished to the "Land of Story" to find it. Aided by a talking signpost, the boy interacts with fairy-tale characters including the Pied Piper, Pinocchio, and Red Riding Hood. Accompanied by black-and-white illustrations, the unfocused plot and lightweight prose do not showcase the author's normally prodigious talent. Copyright 2005 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
The Boy works for a magician: feeding rabbits, polishing magic wands, weeding the garden, and washing dishes. But when pulling the puppets' strings in a production of "Saint George and the Dragon," the Boy is horrified to find that Saint George is missing, and the Boy must travel in the Land of Story to find him. There, he encounters characters from nursery rhymes and fairy tales. He helps the Old Lady Who Lives in a Shoe get her children back from the Pied Piper, warns Red Riding Hood about the wolf, and gets help from four-and-twenty blackbirds. Pinocchio is there, as are Jack, the Giant, and Father Christmas, all in each other's stories to help the Boy on his quest. By story's end, the Boy comes into his own and finds his name: George. Riglietti's magical illustrations perfectly complement the lively text, and large print and generous white space create a pleasing, spacious design. Perfect for reading aloud, the tale will encourage readers and listeners to revisit familiar fairy tales and nursery rhymes. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus 2005 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
Newbery Medalist Cooper (The Dark Is Rising) offers a lighthearted fantasy centering on a Magician's helper. While operating the puppets in his master's rendition of "St. George and the Dragon," the apprentice discovers that the St. George puppet has disappeared. When the angry Magician insists that the lad locate the star puppet, the Boy falls into the pages of an open book and winds up in the Land of Story. There a talking signpost bears the words, "Only a child can find the way/ To bring Saint George back to the play." To accomplish this, explains the post, the Boy must "travel through stories" and choose a nursery rhyme. When he selects the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, the signpost quips (in one of Cooper's characteristically spry lines), "Not a great choice.... She doesn't get out much." Pinocchio makes a rather bland cameo, but the Boy has more entertaining encounters with the likes of the Pied Piper, Little Red Riding Hood and "four and twenty blackbirds," who finally lead him to the Dragon. The signpost reveals a delectable twist as to the Saint's whereabouts. Despite an inventive finale, the narrative falls short of delivering the magic Cooper's fans have come to expect. The theme feels familiar, and the prose lacks the compelling force of many of her previous novels. Riglietti's half-tone stylized illustrations nimbly capture the story's whimsy, whether single-page or splashing across a spread. Recent graduates to chapter books will most appreciate this caper. Ages 8-12. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal Reviews
Gr 2-4-A master of fantasy tells a fanciful tale for young children. Boy works for a Magician, polishing wands, feeding the rabbits, and performing a puppet show of "Saint George and the Dragon." Then, one day, the Saint George puppet is missing, so the Magician sends the Boy through the Land of Story to find it. On his quest, he meets many nursery-rhyme and fairy-tale characters from stories such as "Jack and the Beanstalk," "Little Red Riding Hood," and the "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe." Using the cryptic clue, "Only a child can find the way/To bring Saint George back to the play," the Boy steps forward to save the day. The black-and-white illustrations reflect the whimsy and amazement of the story perfectly. This beautifully simple and joyous book is perfect both for newly independent readers to tackle on their own and for adults to share with youngsters.-Tasha Saecker, Caestecker Public Library, Green Lake, WI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
