THE APOTHECARYBy Maile Meloy; Putnam, 2011Despite its widely positive reception, I am baffled how Maile Meloy’s fifth book, THE APOTHECARY—her first for Young Adults—could engage a serious writer’s talent, even as a holiday from seriousness. There are investments: in the historical framework of 1952, in the Los Angeles of that time (with McCarthyism and the black list), and the London of that time. The author has done research and invested time and setting with realistic detail. The heroine, fou...

Shoulda known. The NYT review that was instrumental in my reading this waxed all poetic about Meloy's adult fiction and then said something to the effect that the reviewer was worried when commencing this because it was (gasp! o the horror!) fantasy, but Meloy's writing carried it off.Really? That's what snobbish reviewers think is good fantasy? What do they know if they don't have anything to compare it to? Some writers of adult fiction can carry off YA with grace and verve. I'm not sure Meloy

It's 1952 and 14-year-old Janie's parents have just been blacklisted, which means a move for the whole family from Los Angeles to London. Janie experiences major culture shock - not only is post-war London gray, cold and drab, but also they have to put pennies in a meter just to heat their flat, there is still rationing, and the students at her new school are learning Latin.Mostly, the students seem fairly snobby, but one boy, Benjamin, appeals to Janie. Intense and defiant, he wants to be a spy...

I'm telling you, my BEA shelf might be getting less crowded but it's still full of all sorts of fantastic gems. The Apothecary was one of those books I didn't even have to read the blurb for when I grabbed it at the BEA. That beautiful cover sold me on the spot. To my intense delight the art continues on to the inside, although my copy is missing a lot of it because it was so advanced ,as if I need more excuses than that to buy a finished copy.The Apothecary is not just another pretty face thoug...

The story of an American girl who moves to England with her parents during the Cold War, after her parents are suspected as Communists. She meets a boy who wants to be a spy and whose father, the apothecary, has a magic book and is in trouble because of it. When real spies show up looking for the book, the two children set off on the kind of quest you want from a book like this. This time, the quest, the characters, the world-building, the magic, are in top form, so good that this book has set m...

Because I have been watching Fullmetal Alchemist I have been trying to find some good books that include alchemy. So I picked up the Apothecary which said included some alchemic like action. After reading it found that the book was geared towards younger readers. The story also takes place around the cold war and the races to build atomic bombs. Other than that there was really no historical element that I found. I would say the alchemic magic was interesting and was the only thing that kept me

The Apothecary is, by all accounts, a book that sounds up my alley. It's 1952, and Jane's parents move their family from Hollywood to London, England in order to escape the Red Scare. Jane enrolls in a school and meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, gets tangled up in magic and adventure and la. Benjamin, the son, really wants to be a spy, but his dad wants nothing more to than for him to follow in his footsteps. But when the apothecary is kidnapped and cryptic, threatening messages are le...

Fabulous read. Written for the young, enjoyable at any age. Please read my full review here: http://cineastesbookshelf.blogspot.co...

I loved it. One of my all-time favorite books, because it's just the right blend of romance, fantasy, action and realistic fiction all together. After I finished, I just sat in a sort of daze, because I'd never been that affected by a book regarding emotions, period. It was amazing.

I can be a very smug librarian sometimes. It can get me into trouble. Take my reaction to the cover of Maile Meloy's The Apothecary, for instance. Here we have one of the lovelier illustrated book jackets to come out in recent years. Illustrator Ian Schoenherr really put his heart and soul into it. So what was my initial reaction? I picked it up, noticed the American robin on the cover paired with the image below of some buildings raising the British flag and sniffed, "That's not an English robi...

THE APOTHECARY is the kind of middle-grade historical thriller that younger audiences or readers who are interested more in the actions rather than the thoughts and motivations of characters will enjoy best. I couldn't help feeling like it relied a little too much on old-fashioned attitudes toward WWII-era enemies and allies in its portrayal of foreign characters. It was disconcerting to see Jin Lo, the Chinese chemist, portrayed as a beautiful, poised, elegant, and a little snooty woman who cas...

I really liked this middle grade adventure story. The writing style is very good and story is promising enough. Its actual audiences are young adults but I think anybody who likes magic and adventure can enjoy this book.It’s 1952 and Janie is a 14-years-old American girl living with her parents in California. As her parents become suspected as “Communists”, they decide to move to London and work for BBC. Janie doesn’t like this change in her life and starts her new school skeptically. She meets

Sweet and entertaining, but not what I expected.It's the year 1952, and 14-year-old Janie is living a happy, carefree life with her parents in Los Angeles. One day, while walking home from school, she notices a black sedan following her, which causes her parents to panic and make some sudden decisions. Suspected of being communist sympathizers, they feel like they have no choice but to pack everything up and move to London.Starting school in London is harder than she ever imagined. Janie hates e...

Janie is a bright, all-American girl living in Los Angeles in the 1950’s. Her world is like a lovely dream, until her parents tell her that they must pack everything and hastily leave the country to avoid being detained and questioned as suspected “communists.” Days later, they arrive in dreary London, still recovering from the aftermath of WWII. Janie is immediately homesick, especially when she attends school for the first time wearing the wrong clothes and feeling left behind in her classes.

Imagine you are uprooted to unfamiliar country, and thrown into an unfamiliar world of magic, secrecy, and strangely, nuclear physics. In Malie Meloy’s The Apothecary, it’s 1952 and Janie Scott is enjoying life in sunny Los Angeles until she is tailed by government agents one day after school. After learning this, her parents got spooked and moved the family immediately to gray, cold and dreary London, a change she’s not too happy about, considering her lack of friends, horrid classmates, and of...

A wonderful story tied to the Cold War era, the characters are brilliantly developed and written. You fall in love with Janie and Benjamin early on and stay connected with them. It’s YA and perhaps it’s part coming of age, part curiosity and part youthful hope that keeps it all moving and connected.

This was a delightful, action packed, wonderful children's book. It is set in 1952, during the Cold War, and a group of teenagers, a few adults, and magic stand between the world and an atomic bomb detonating! With memorable characters and a fast paced plot I couldn't put this down.