From its origins in ancient Greece to its more recent incarnation in Disney+s Fantasia, The Sorcerer+s Apprentice has captivated readers+ imaginations for generations. Now, Mary Jane Begin+s elegant prose and lavish illustrations give new meaning to the classic tale about a young girl who can+t help but wonder why she must spend her days cleaning and sweeping instead of practicing magic. Will she ever learn how to cast a spell? The sorcerer had taught her that there are some things we must do for ourselves. And so the apprentice, taking matters into her own hands, beckons a broom to come to life and do her chores-until the broom+s power is more than the girl can bear. Ultimately, she finds that passion and hard work, tempered by patience and discipline, can help make dreams come true.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4–A girl becomes apprentice to a great magician and healer. Growing weary of her menial household tasks, she yearns to get on with learning spells. Predictably, she tries out a spell in secret, creating the central chaos of the story as the broom she orders to fetch water goes out of control. Her terror in the resulting situation will captivate readers. The concluding lesson, stated by her returning master as he sets things to rights, is a bit anticlimactic: Through hard work and practice, you can learn to have the patience to do anything…. And, of course, she understands that many years later when she has become a sorcerer herself. The retelling is competent and smooth, and the attractive acrylic paintings add drama and bits of fun. Single-page illustrations face text pages that are occasionally adorned with smaller vignettes and surrounded with rich blue borders decorated with objects of the sorcerers trade. The girl appears as a young adolescent, while the sorcerer is blonde and blue-eyed; both are beautifully costumed, she in Elizabethan-style dress and he in a fur-trimmed aqua robe and deep blue cape and hat. Begin provides no source notes, but with few renditions of this tale currently in print, her handsome rendering will be welcome in most libraries.–Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
PreS-K. There are surprisingly few picture-book retellings of the classic story of the sorcerer's apprentice, perhaps because the imagery from Disney's Fantasia casts such a long shadow. Begin follows the story line closely--complete with anthropomorphic broomsticks, a chaotic flood, and a lesson learned--diverging only in the replacement of Mickey Mouse with a human girl. What Begin's treatment lacks in imagination, it makes up for in lavish atmosphere. Her velvety acrylic paintings are appealingly cluttered with archetypal magician's-workshop details, and her characters, though sometimes oddly rigid in their^B movements and facial expressions, wear ornate, flowing medieval costumes. This can't compete with the swirling sights and sounds of the Disney version, or with the darker, more esoteric imaginings of Nancy Willard's 1993 version, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. But many kids appreciate a picture book that allows them to experience a favorite movie in a new (but still recognizable) way, and the connections between "sorcerers"and "wizards"will not be overlooked by youngsters who have caught the fantasy bug from their elders. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sometimes We Must Wait!,
This review is from: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Hardcover)
The Sorcerer has an apprentice and this little girl is not happy at what she is asked to do. After all, why should she mop and sweep the floors and do all these menial tasks when their are spells to learn? How can doing these things help her to become a Sorcerer? She decides to take matters in her own hands by casting some spells to help her do her work and almost loses her life in this colorful tale.
This book teaches that patience, discipline and doing what one is told can be a wise decision to make. The illustrations are very good, colorful and realistic and the book is very well constructed.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top Knotch Illustrations!,
By Maryann "MK" (East Greenwich, RI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Hardcover)
I bought this wonderful children's book just to have as a collectors item, for the classic story, and the BEAUTIFUL illustrations! Highly recommended!
MK
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