The Sorcerer's Apprentices

by Nicholas Stuart Gray

Eager to learn magic, two young boys pit their wits against those of a very powerful wizard. A portion of each illustration glows in the dark.

Genres: Picture Books

Hardcover

First published July 16, 2012

About the author

Nicholas Stuart Gray (23 October 1922, Scotland - 17 March 1981) was a British actor and playwright, perhaps best known for his work in children's theatre in England. He was also an author of children's fantasy; he wrote a number of novels, a dozen plays, and many short stories. Neil Gaiman has written that Gray "is one of those authors I loved as a boy who holds up even better on rereading as an adult". Many other modern fantasy authors, such as Hilari Bell, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Kate Forsyth, Cassandra Golds, Katherine Langrish, Sophie Masson, and Garth Nix, cite Gray's work as something they enjoyed as children.

Perhaps his best-known books are The Seventh Swan and Grimbold's Other World. Gray often produced adaptations or continuations of traditional fairy tales and fantasy works, as in his Further Adventures of Puss in Boots. His The Stone Cage is a re-telling of Rapunzel from a cat's point of view. Over The Hills to Fabylon is about a city whose king has the ability to make it fly off across the mountains if he feels it is in danger.

Gray maintained a long-term collaborative relationship with set designer and illustrator Joan Jefferson Farjeon (sister of Eleanor Farjeon and Harry Farjeon); she supplied the costume and scenic designs for many of the theatrical productions of his plays, as well as the illustrations of his books.

---from wikipedia

Reviews

[Capn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halfway through the first page, and I said, "Hang about - I've read this!" And I had - it's the first story in Mainly in Moonlight.

Alain is a wizard who only wants a dutiful apprentice. Martin, who has just arrived, would like to behave himself, but he really wants to learn magic now, all at once, not in slow and careful steps. One day, Alain's absence gives Martin the chance to use everything he's learned so far. Martin knows he shouldn't, but he can't resist, and in the chaos that results, he discovers Alain's other apprentice . . . and a thing or two about himself.
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Night Lights: The Brightest New Idea in Reading Fun!
Switch on NIGHT LIGHTS - brilliantly illustrated, classic stories with a brand-new twist. There's a secret in each picture - a glowing element that only comes out in the dark, adding extra chills and shivers to these tales of mystery, suspense, and the supernatural. Are you ready for NIGHT LIGHTS? Turn out the lights and see!

The glow-in-the-dark functionality has diminished somewhat over the decades (1987), and, oddly, our copy (ISBN 0 312 57282 4) has the same illustration (Martin and the great cat) on both pages 17 and 19. We had a look to see if the phosphorescence showed something different, but couldn't find any differences. Will update if I find one, but not hopeful at this stage. Also - there's no 'secret' that can't be seen in the daylight. I guess it's just a surprise about which bit has the phosphorescent overlay. This could have been done better - secret writing, etc.

So far, the final page with the (bog standard) unicorn has been the tiny fan's favourite and has given me about five minutes worth of peace... which is invaluable. Hopefully no nightmares from the floating-angry-face-in-a-fireball-blaze page...

Bottomline: probably only for the die-hard collector of glow-in-the-dark books, or for those of the wonderful Nicholas Stuart Gray. I only added this one to my WOB basket because there was a 3 for 4 deal on, and I couldn't find any better contenders at the time. ;)

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

glows in the dark!