[button color=”black” size=”big” link=”http://affiliates.abebooks.com/c/99844/77798/2029?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fisbn%3D9780192753328″ target=”blank” ]Purchase here[/button] The boy is a small skinny orphan with messy brown hair and green eyes. His parents were killed by a snake when he was a small child. Since then he has lived with a disagreeable guardian. And he is about to learn that wizardry is real.
Sound familiar? Well, in this story, the similarity to Harry Potter does not go much further. The orphans name is Measle Stubbs, and his guardian is a frightful creature named Basil Tramplebone, who is the worst of three grades of sorcerer (there are good wizards, sometimes-good-but-sometimes-bad warlocks, and insanely wicked Wrathmonkslike Basil). Basil seems to be living off the money in Measles trust fund, and one day he decides he doesnt need Measle anymore, so he shrinks him down to a half-inch tall and sends him to live in the huge model railway town in the attic.
It would seem to be the end of Measle…but he turns out to be luckier, braver, and cleverer than anyone thought, especially Basil. Soon he has rescued some of Basils other victims and has hatched a daring plan to save seven tiny people and a tiny dog from a giant, man-eating bat and an enormous, evil cockroach.
This is a very charming and thrilling adventure, full of warmth, weirdness, and wry humor. Anyone who enjoyed Roald Dahls The Witches, E. Nesbits The Magic City, or the first Harry Potter book should enjoy this story too. The series continues with Measle and the Dragodon.
