3 QUESTIONS FOR MAILE MELOY

Maile Meloy

3 QUESTIONS FOR MAILE MELOY

The Apothecary

What's your favorite thing about your heroes, Janie and Benjamin?

I like the fact that Janie is curious about the world, and brave when she needs to be.  And I like Benjamin's stubbornness, even when it gets in his way.  They both face adventure with courage and with concern for their friends, which is a quality I admire in people.      

With which do you have the most in common?

I probably identify the most with Janie because I was writing in her voice, in The Apothecary, and I remember being 14 really vividly.  In college, I spent a year in England, and felt very out of place when I got there, so we have that in common.  I wish I were more like Jin Lo, who's tough and smart and always perfectly confident—but has gone through a hard time to get that way.  I don't envy the hard time.  

When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

By quantity, it was Trixie Belden, who was tomboyish and intuitive and believable.  My stepmother gave me the books and I read a lot of them.  But I also really loved Turtle Wexler in The Westing Game, who's only a mystery detective accidentally.  (I guess that's true of most of them.)  

BOOK REVIEW: THE APOTHECARY

THE APOTHECARY-mystery book review

THE APOTHECARY

Maile Meloy

Penguin Young Readers Group

2013

Available: Hardcopy, paperback, Kindle, audible, audio

Fourteen-year-old Janie Scott is not happy that her parents have taken jobs in London. Why can't they just stay in Hollywood? Everyone knows there are more film jobs in California than in England in 1952. But it's not her choice and she's  miserable in her new home, a small, cold, walk-up flat. She meets a mysterious apothecary who gives her an elixir to make her less homesick. Even though she thinks it won't work, she takes it. Later at school, she meets his son, Benjamin. The only thing the two seem to have in common is that neither is happy with their parents' current employment. She dreams of returning to California. He dreams of becoming a spy. Benjamin's father is kidnapped. Suddenly they are thrust into a secret world of danger, intrigue and magic. It's up to them to save him and the world. They can't do either until they unravel the ancient secrets in his father's secret book: The Pharmacopia. Sounds easy, but isn't. Not when it's written in an ancient language and the bad guys are out to steal it.

This was a fun mixture of magic, alchemy, intrigue, adventure and mystery. While it's obvious the Cold War inspired the story, is doesn't get in the way or over- power the growing friendship between Janie and Benjamin in their race against time to save the world from evil.

Target audience: Grades 5-9

Mystery/suspense: high action

Kid appeal: Mystery/magic fans