The Printer's Devil [Hardcover]

Paul Bajoria (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: 4 and up

The notorious inhabitants of London's criminal underworld are all in a day's work for Mog, the printer's apprentice, who prints their "wanted" posters. A real-life meeting with a convict entangles Mog in a secret scheme in this suspenseful tale.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9–A lively Dickensian adventure story in the style of Leon Garfield or Joan Aiken. Twelve-year-old Mog, an orphan, has a steady job as an apprentice printer, also called a printer's devil. After a mysterious ship called the Sun of Calcutta sails into port with an unknown but valuable cargo, he witnesses an act of thievery on the docks. Intrigued by the nature of the theft and the nasty characters involved, he investigates and meets Nick, a boy who looks so much like him that the two are often mistaken for one another. The new friends become enmeshed in an ever-deepening mystery that includes their own pasts. Like a penny dreadful, the book employs stock characters for minor roles while allowing the heroes adequate depth and character. The novel is better suited for those older children who are able to keep up with the ever-shifting loyalties and boundless characters introduced on every other page. Though the tale is enjoyable and always surprising, readers may find themselves disappointed with the scant answers at the end (not to mention the rather significant plot gaps). Large collections will want this title by a new British writer and those libraries needing to upgrade their action/adventure series might want to give it a shot.–Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library
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From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Twelve-year-old Mog is the printer's devil (aka apprentice). It's a decent job for an orphan, and Mog finds printing the WANTED posters exciting--until he spots a criminal from one of his posters just as a valuable item from an East Indian ship goes missing. With the help of a new friend, Nick, Mog procures the stolen item, giving new meaning to the term cutthroat competition as war between thieves ensues to retrieve it. Murderous deeds, mistaken identities, surprise revelations, and Mog's own murky past come into play in this entertaining adventure, and Victorian London comes alive in all its dirty, dangerous glory as Mog skulks through endless back alleys. Although a large cast of characters with colorful names complicates the convoluted plot, and the ending is disappointingly vague after such a suspenseful buildup, Mog's curious but foolhardy sense of adventure keeps things sailing at a good clip, while Nick's practical wariness provides a nice counterpoint. A sequel is planned. Krista Hutley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers; First Edition ~1st Printing edition (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316010901
• ISBN-13: 978-0316010900
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,624,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!!!!, January 30, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Printer's Devil (Hardcover)

This is a brilliant book!!!! It was a school book at first but after the first chapter I decided that it was one of the best books I've ever read!!!! It was full of cool twist and turns. It has all sorts of different plots. This book is right up there with Joshua Mowll and Phillip Pulmann. I love this book so much!!!
I like this book because of the well-developed characters. Mog, Nick, and all of the good guys were so funny. And yet they were not your average heros. The bad guys on the other hand were so evil you just wanted to reach inside the book and strangle them. I liked it how the author gave us just enough background on the characters but not enough to tell all about their past. This book had so many different things going on at once that it made your head spin, but in a good way. And then when you finally think that the author can't have any more surprises, there pops up yet another surprise.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great setting, shaky plot, August 24, 2005

By 

Megan E. Gendell "voracious children's book r... (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Printer's Devil (Hardcover)

While some of the plot twists in this fast-paced Victorian novel are utterly suprising (and yet well hinted-at, in retrospect), others are disappointingly obvious. And the reason for 12-year-old Mog's curiousity in the complex schemes of shady thieves is hard to understand, despite its fortuitous result.

But I did love the setting in the book. The scenes in the printer's shop where Mog is apprenticed are delightfully full of lead type and presses, and the crowded, grungy 19th-century London streets are alluring and exciting. The dialog is occasionally difficult to understand but full of colorful words and phrases that flesh out the atmosphere perfectly.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Weird little twists and turn, August 11, 2005

By 

Gary H. Cassel "Flamingnet Teen Book Reviews" (Baltimore, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Printer's Devil (Hardcover)

It all starts when the Printer's Devil is making wanted posters of an ugly convict named Cockburn. Mog Winter had stayed up late one night after printing 100 copies of the poster. Once done with that, the orphan had to deliver a bill to one of Mr. Cramplock's costomers (he's Mog's employer). The man who is to receive the bill's name is Mr. Flethick. Mog finds Flethick in his room with several other men smoking and speaking of things like "The Sun of Calcutta" and "The Bonsun". Before you could blink and eye Mog is whisked away in a grand adventure involving thieves, camels, deception, and a mysterious past.

Opinion: Good, but definitely a book you might want to use a notecard as a bookmark to keep track of who's who. At times it can be dreadfully confusing as to who's doing what and how they're involved in the first place. I thought the writing was inconsistent at times. One chapter would be smooth and the next it would take a while to catch up with the plot line. Almost as if you missed something important. Warning: When reading this book be prepared for the weird little twists and turns that could utimately change the plot for somthing totally different. Assume nothing.

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