Witch & Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet is a book for young-adults, although given the ages of the hero and heroine of the book, 17 and 15 respectively, middle grade readers would probably also enjoy the story. I know I enjoyed it and I am well into adulthood. There is no sex and I don’t recall any offensive language, so there is no reason it wouldn’t be appropriate for both young-adult and middle-grade readers.
Witch & Wizard is the story of Whit and Wisty, a brother and a sister with magic in their blood. Whit and Wisty are a wizard and a witch, although neither of them is aware of their talents until they are kidnapped from their home in the middle of the night by soldiers of a new government, known as the New Order, or N.O. for short.
The night of their kidnapping, which takes place in front of their parents, Wisty’s abilities as a witch begin to manifest. When she is accosted by the soldiers of the New Order Wisty suddenly becomes a human torch with fire shooting out several feet from her body until someone finally puts her out with a pail full of water. The soldiers are burned, but Wisty is unharmed. Wisty and her brother Whit are then jailed and put on trial for being a witch and a wizard. They plead not guilty but are not given a lawyer and don’t have any rights. They are found guilty of witchcraft and general teenage behaviors and sentenced to be executed when they turn eighteen. Whit is only one month away from being eighteen!
I found this to be a thoroughly entertaining tale. I’ll be looking forward to reading the next volume in this story when it comes out. I can’t wait until my son comes back from a visit to New York so I can give him this book to read. He’s going to love it.
What follows is an excerpt from Witch & Wizard told from Wisty’s perspective:
“I used to think detention was kinda fun. A badge of honor, almost. Man, how quickly things can change.
This was the real thing.
My old life, and the days of recklessly skipping class, felt like a million worlds away now. I missed it, and our house, and especially our mom and dad, so badly that I felt like I was going to lose it.
I stared at the ceiling and daydreamed, remembering…
How Mom used to lie in bed with Whit and me when we were really little, and she’d laugh and laugh, and tell us that she was teaching us how to love laughter, because it was one of the very best things in life, maybe the best.
And…
How Dad always said he had to be our father, not our friend-and that there was an important distinction between the two-but somehow he ended up being out best friend anyway.”
Witch & Wizard. copyright 2009 by James Patterson, published by Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017, ISBN 978-0-316-03624-5
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