The Spook's Apprentice

Infobox Book |
name = The Spook's Apprentice


image_caption = Book cover for "The Spook's Apprentice"
author = Joseph Delaney
country = Great Britain
language = English
series = The Wardstone Chronicles
genre = Children's Historical novel
publisher = The Bodley Head
release_date = 2004
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 325 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-09-945645-1
followed_by = The Spook's Curse

"The Spook's Apprentice" ("American title: The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch"), written by Joseph Delaney, is the first story in the series "The Wardstone Chronicles" The plot is centred around a 13 year old farm boy named Tom who lives in the countryside of The County (loosely based on the English county of Lancashire, where the author resides [http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/content/articles/2007/07/09/joseph_delaney_feature.shtml] ) with his large family. He is the seventh son of a seventh son which, in County tradition, allows him to see things others cannot such as boggarts, ghasts, ghosts etc.

Plot summary

The beginning of the story is told through the eyes of Tom Ward, and how a cloaked old man carrying a wooden staff in his left hand (as later it is found out from the spook himself that mystical people tend to be left-handed) comes to the house. This man is the Spook. Spooks travel the country fighting troublesome creatures such as Boggarts, Ghosts/Ghasts, and Witches, for the money of the people who need these things gone. However the religious world hates them, for they are thought to be meddling in the dark powers themselves, which is against the Christian church.

Tom knows that his parents have agreed to make Tom the apprentice of the Spook. He will have to learn how the Spook fights "The Dark" as it's referred to in the book.

The Spook is actually a very caring person, and seems to look after Tom like a son. He explains that most of his other apprentices have failed, due to them being cowardly, disobedient, or deceased. (Later in the series, we learn that a failed apprentice seeks vengeances on the Spook).

After learning what the Spook does, Tom is sent out on an errand to pick up some food for the house, (inside which lives a boggart, in whom the Spook has made a servant of sorts) suddenly some boys about the same age come up and threaten to beat him, unless he gives them some food. Tom refuses and the boys are about to beat him up, when suddenly a girl in pointy shoes shows up and scares them away by telling them a certain person is back.She has an ungodly amount of strength for a girl of her age.

Her name is Alice, and she is relative of one of the most dangerous witches in the world—Mother Malkin—and Bony Lizzie. Bony Lizzie used bone magic, a type of necromancery involving the bones of dead enemies. Mother Malkin was one of the most sinister. She used blood magic, a type of witchcraft that involved draining the blood of anyone she thought could have useful features. She was called Mother Malkin for her strategy of welcoming young runaway women into a care home, and then sucking the blood of every girl there to make her more youthful. Over time she had developed a taste for children.

A long time ago the Spook had bound Mother Malkin to a pit in the ground with 13 iron bars on top, so she could never escape to terrorize anyone again.

Soon Tom is tricked by Alice to give Mother Malkin some cake, which (Tom doesn't know) is filled with blood. Mother Malkin becomes stronger and breaks out of her pit prison in two days.

Now it's up to Tom to recapture this witch. The Spook has been tricked by Bony Lizzie into going to Pendal (a place infested by withches and other creatures of the dark) and can not help Tom capture Mother Malkin. Tom gets the help of Alice, who is found to be unhappy with her family, and their dark ways, to defeat Mother Malkin.

Other Books

The sequel, "The Spook's Curse" , and a third book, "The Spook's Secret" was released in July 2006. The fourth book of the series, "The Spook's Battle" was released on 5 July, 2007. "The Spook's Mistake" was released on 5 June 2008.

Additional Information

*Paperback: = Published: 30th June 2005 Red Fox ISBN: 0099456451
*Hardback: = Published: 1st July 2004 Bodley Head ISBN: 0370328264

Trivia

*On the back of each book is a warning that says, "Not to be Read After Dark."

*The book has been selected for the Lancashire Library and Information Service initiative Lancashire Reads; part of the 2008 National Year of Reading. The book will be promoted and distributed at venues across the county between September and November 2008. [http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/lancashirereads]

*This book was the winner of the Hampshire Book Award. Joseph Delaney attended the event and met the pupils who voted for his book.

*The haunted house in which Tom is told to stay in until midnight and then head for the cellar by the spook is 'No 13 Watery Lane', is based on the house in which the author Joseph Delaney once lived in as a child, which was really called 'No 1 Water Lane'. He and his brothers had the same dream where a shadow-thing named 'Sam' would leave its place from underneath the stairs and carry Joseph down into the darkness.

* A film adaptation of the book was announced on March 18, 2008 and will be directed by Kevin Lima set to release sometime in 2009. [http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=22222]

External links

* [http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/bookcb.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0370328264 Random House Page]