The Silver Glove (The Sorcery Hall Trilogy, Book 2) [Paperback]

Suzy McKee Charnas (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Fourteen-year-old Valentine Marsh has always known about her grandmother's remarkable magic powers. Val hasn't let her belief in Granny Gran's sorcery affect her everyday life at home and school, until the day she receives a phone call and a magic silver glove from her grandmother that brings her two worlds together with a crash.

A powerful wizard has come to Earth to steal human souls, and Gran has been chosen to defeat him. Val can't believe that the wizard is actually

masquerading as smooth-talking Dr. Brightner, her new school psychologist. But when her mother becomes a pawn in his deadly scheme, Val finds the courage to join Gran's fight.

Together, armed with magic and the illuminating power of love, they face Brightner's seductive and dangerous illusions. Guided by instinct and urged on by fear, Val uses the silver glove to aid her in her mission— a mission to save not only her family but even the world from the forces of doom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of The Bronze King shouldn't miss this sequel, but those new to the proposed trilogy won't be left out by beginning with this one. Some time after the events of the earlier novel, Valentine Marsh finds herself willy-nilly cutting school, disobeying her mother and trying to save the world again. The threat: sinister Dr. Brightner, who is installed as the new school psychologist the same day Val's magic Gran runs away from her nursing home. A renegade wizard, Brightner is after souls, and he's been trying to get Gran to his clinic for "research." Val is horrified to find that he is trying to seduce her mother, who has long denied Gran's magic and doesn't see the threat. This is a book to relish; told in Charnas's nearly perfect first-person narration, Val's engaging personality of savoir-faire and innocence is judiciously mixed with a flying carpet, a deliciously scary Indian woman and a wonderful final confrontation in Central Park. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8 In this sequel to The Bronze King (Houghton, 1985) , 14-year-old Valentine discovers that her grand mother, who has magical powers, has gone into hiding to escape a powerful ``rogue wizard'' who is stealing human souls to use as soldiers in another world. When the wizard turns up as Dr. Brightner, the new psychologist at Val's school, and begins to date her di vorced mother, Val realizes that she alone can oppose him directly. This she does with the help of a magical glove given her by Gran. The various magical elements, including an Indian Restau rant named after the Goddess Kali and Brightner's ``Claw,'' which takes vari ous sinister shapes, do not form a smooth whole. However, the recurring image of a skating rink, on which the assembled souls whirl mindlessly, forms an effective link between epi sodes of the plot, which moves at a good pace. Characterization is lightly but effectively sketched. Brightner's gaining of power over Val's mother by using her loneliness is well-drawn, as is Val's reaction to it. In fact, it is the realistic tensions of this situation which will appeal to readers most strongly. Charnas has done a good job of fitting her fantasy into the everyday world of a young teenage girl. Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Borgo Press (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158715479X
• ISBN-13: 978-1587154799
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,933,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful fiction-- the female Harry Potter of my generation, June 4, 2001

By 

Erin D. Howerton "erindowney" (Overland Park, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SILVER GLOVE (Socery Hall Trilogy, Vol 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Charnas really captures the imagination and inspires young adults to think in different and interesting ways. Reminiscent of city-themed "girl's novels," like _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,_ this is about another young woman's coming of age-- but with a sorceress for a grandmother. It's a wild read, riveting to the very end, and is great for boys and girls alike. Action, adventure, mystery, and the supernatural all collide in Charnas' book, and here's hoping you can find a copy since they're out of print!

5.0 out of 5 stars Back in print!, February 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: SILVER GLOVE (Socery Hall Trilogy, Vol 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is in print again, thank goodness -- it's the great middle section of one
of my favorite trilogies, packed with magical action and featuring a really
icky villain and his mean witch of a sidekick. Valentine is a gutsy kid, and I
like it that her family's magic has skipped a generation so that her grandmother
is in on it, but her mother is completely out of the loop. The story rips along, full
of neat New York detail that makes the place completely real.